Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, Controls (Aerospace)

Location: On-site in El Segundo, California, United States

Salary: $140,333–$179,314 per year, plus potential stock options and/or long-term cash awards.

Company

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

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, and instrumentation systems into cohesive test platforms and own them from electrical design through commissioning.
• Serve as the Responsible Engineer for centrifuges, TVAC systems, propulsion stands, fill carts, gas benches, water flow stands, and torch test stands.
• Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams to deliver reliable infrastructure on aggressive timelines.
• Deploy and make minor edits to the internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling while documenting systems and procedures for reliable long-term maintenance.

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 wiring cabinets, PLCs, harnesses, connectors, and related electrical systems, plus experience with Altium or comparable schematic design software.
• 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.
• 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 end-to-end ownership of problems.
• Must be lawfully authorized to work in the United States and qualify as a U.S. person 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 risk-reduction solutions.
• Programming experience in low-level firmware or Python.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on in-house spacecraft, pharmaceutical processing payloads, reentry capsules, heat shields, satellite buses, and production infrastructure.
• Support high-cadence production equipment with a focus on predictable performance and more than 99% uptime.
• Use a modern in-house PLC framework and Beckhoff EtherCAT tooling.
• Receive potential incentives through stock options and/or long-term cash awards.
• Work alongside specialists from aerospace, pharmaceutical, and technology companies in a fast-paced startup environment.