Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, Structures (Aerospace)

Location: Huntington Beach, California, United States. The role requires eligibility under ITAR regulations and authorization to work in the United States.

Salary: $140,000–$180,000 USD annually, plus performance incentives and equity.

Company

Mach Industries is a rapidly growing defense technology startup developing autonomous defense platforms and scalable defense systems.

What you will do

• Own system-level mechanical design from early CAD concepts and prototypes through production.
• Lead structural qualification, design validation, subscale, coupon, and assembly-level testing.
• Make manufacturability, material selection, tolerance stack-up, GD&T, mass, and cost decisions.
• Apply structural, thermal, materials, first-order sizing, and FEA methods to guide design and trade studies.
• Design fixtures and tooling for manufacturing, assembly, inspection, qualification, and testing of aerospace assemblies.
• Prepare test plans, engineering documentation, drawings, data packages, and milestones while mentoring engineers and supporting cross-disciplinary integration.

Requirements

• 5+ years of mechanical engineering experience focused on designing and prototyping mechanical systems.
• Strong 3D CAD, drafting, and GD&T skills in accordance with ASME Y14.5.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• End-to-end ownership of flight or production hardware development.
• Experience integrating mechanical systems with sensors, actuators, and embedded control hardware.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or be eligible to obtain the required U.S. export authorizations under ITAR.

Nice to have

• Advanced engineering degree and experience with lightweight materials, composites, or additive manufacturing.
• Experience with aerospace configuration and change management.
• Experience with Nastran, FEA, multiphysics software, coupon or subscale testing, and qualification campaigns.
• Knowledge of aerodynamics, fluid dynamics, thermal management, or programming with Python, MATLAB, or C++.

Culture & Benefits

• Hands-on, fast-iterating engineering environment focused on real hardware and rapid product development.
• Healthcare, dental, vision, retirement savings, and paid time off.
• Performance-based incentives and equity participation.
• Funding for continuing education, training, and professional development.
• Occasional extended hours and weekends may be required to support critical development and test milestones.