Opto-Mechanical Engineer (Aerospace)

Location: San Francisco, California; full-time, in-office at the San Francisco headquarters 5 days per week

Salary: $144,500–$180,600 USD annual base salary

Company

hirify.global designs, manufactures, and operates imaging satellites and provides their Earth-observation data through a cloud-based platform.

What you will do

• Own the opto-mechanical manufacturing process for optical payloads on next-generation Earth-imaging satellites.
• Design a mid-volume manufacturing line and optimize assembly and test processes using data-driven, first-principles decisions.
• Collaborate with optical, structural, thermal, reliability, and qualification teams to validate stiffness, strength, thermal performance, launch survivability, and on-orbit optical performance.
• Lead part and assembly design, vendor fabrication, failure analysis, tolerance stack-up, and GD&T analysis.
• Maintain design documentation and lead technical presentations and reviews across design gates.
• Support qualification testing and work hands-on with flight and test hardware.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 4+ years of experience developing opto-mechanical products from requirements through conceptual design, testing, and manufacturing.
• Experience designing high-reliability hardware for space environments, including launch survivability, vacuum, and thermal conditions.
• Experience designing and fabricating optical assemblies using glass, carbon fiber, metals, ceramics, epoxies, mechanisms, and electrical elements.
• Practical hardware experience across prototyping, production, and testing, with strong analytical, problem-solving, verbal, and visual communication skills.
• Ability to work in the San Francisco office 5 days per week.

Nice to have

• Expertise in optics or opto-mechanical manufacturing, metrology, alignment, and calibration.
• Experience building precision optical manufacturing lines, conducting vibration and shock tests, assembling telescopes, and testing optical performance.
• Experience applying systems engineering, requirements management, trade-off analysis, DFM, and DFA to optical payload integration.
• Proficiency in SolidWorks, Zemax, Matlab, Visual Basic, Python, or C/C++.

Culture & Benefits

• People-centric culture focused on belonging, collaboration, and growth.
• Medical, dental, and vision plans with a company-supported HSA.
• Paid time off, holidays, company-wide days off, and 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Wellness and employee assistance programs, home-office reimbursement, and phone and internet reimbursement.
• Tuition reimbursement, LinkedIn Learning access, equity, commuter benefits, and paid volunteering time off.
• Access to export-controlled information is contingent on eligibility without requiring additional export licensing.

Hiring process

• Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and may close early.
• Select interviews may be recorded and transcribed with candidate consent; candidates may opt out.
• Use of AI tools is prohibited during live interviews and assessments unless explicitly authorized.