Mechanical Design & Test Engineer II, Automation (Aerospace)

Location: On-site in El Segundo, California, United States. Employees must be authorized to work in the United States and qualify as U.S. persons for access to export-controlled technology.

Salary: $119,543–$152,749 per year for Engineer II, plus eligibility for stock options and/or long-term cash awards.

Company

hirify.global develops commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing, reentry capsules, heat shields, and satellite buses, with vehicles and equipment built, integrated, and tested in-house.

What you will do

• Design, build, maintain, and commission test systems and ground support equipment for flight-hardware qualification and manufacturing operations.
• Develop data acquisition systems, propulsion test stands, fill carts, thermal control systems, PLC cabinets, and gas and liquid systems.
• Integrate mechanical, electrical, fluid, instrumentation, and industrial communication systems into cohesive test platforms.
• Own test infrastructure end-to-end as the Responsible Engineer, including centrifuges, TVACs, propulsion systems, flow stands, and torch test stands.
• Build cabinets, wire panels, support internal PLC and EtherCAT tooling, and maintain systems above 99% uptime.
• Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams while documenting systems, procedures, and schematics.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related technical field.
• 3+ years of industry experience in mechanical design or industrial automation.
• Extensive experience with SolidWorks, NX CAD, or comparable tools.
• Experience wiring cabinets, PLCs, harnesses, connectors, and related electrical systems.
• Experience with Altium or comparable electronic schematic design software; EPLAN migration is underway.
• Hands-on experience with high-pressure gas or fluid systems and environmental testing, including TVAC, thermal cycling, and vibration testing.
• Experience developing propulsion test stands or other complex, multi-subsystem test infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience integrating industrial hardware over EtherCAT, Modbus TCP/RTU, RS-232/485 serial, or similar protocols.
• Experience with at least one modern PLC ecosystem, ideally Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 with structured text under IEC 61131-3, or demonstrated eagerness to develop deep expertise in it.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced startup environment with shifting priorities and expected end-to-end ownership of problems.
• U.S. work authorization and U.S.-person status are required for access to export-controlled technology.

Nice to have

• Aerospace experience, particularly spacecraft testing or GSE development.
• Familiarity with spacecraft qualification standards and related documentation requirements.
• Experience developing safety-related control systems and evaluating solutions to reduce safety-related risks.
• Programming experience in low-level firmware or Python.

Culture & Benefits

• Work in an in-house space infrastructure and production environment.
• Collaborate with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams.
• Use a custom PLC framework and Beckhoff EtherCAT tooling developed in-house.
• Receive stock options and/or long-term cash awards in addition to base salary.
• Work in an inclusive environment with employment decisions based on merit, qualifications, and performance.