Senior Mechanical Design & Test Engineer, Automation (Aerospace)

Location: On-site in El Segundo, California, United States. Employment requires lawful authorization to work in the U.S. and qualification as a U.S. person for access to export-controlled technology.

Salary: $140,333–$179,314 per year for the Senior level. Stock options and/or long-term cash awards may also be available.

Company

hirify.global develops commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing, reentry capsules, heat shields, satellite buses, and related production and test systems.

What you will do

• Design, build, maintain, and own ground support equipment and test systems 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 targeting more than 99% uptime.
• Build cabinets, wire panels, and take systems from electrical design through fabrication, assembly, commissioning, and ongoing support.
• Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams to deliver infrastructure on aggressive timelines.
• Deploy and make minor edits to the internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling, while documenting systems, procedures, and schematics.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of industry experience in mechanical design or industrial automation.
• Extensive experience with SolidWorks, NX CAD, or comparable tools.
• Experience with electrical wiring for cabinets, PLCs, harnesses, and connectors, plus Altium or comparable electronic schematic design software; EPLAN migration is underway.
• Hands-on experience with high-pressure gas or fluid systems.
• Environmental testing experience, 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 using EtherCAT, Modbus TCP/RTU, RS-232/485 serial, or similar communication standards.
• 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.

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 risk-reduction solutions.
• Programming experience with low-level firmware or Python.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on in-house spacecraft, pharmaceutical processing payloads, reentry capsules, heat shields, satellite buses, and production infrastructure.
• Collaborate with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing functions.
• Access to stock options and/or long-term cash awards.
• Inclusive equal-opportunity workplace with evaluation based on merit, qualifications, and performance.