Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, Support Equipment (Aerospace)

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

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, reentry capsules, heat shields, satellite buses, and related ground 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/liquid systems.
• Integrate mechanical, electrical, fluid, instrumentation, and industrial communication systems into cohesive test platforms.
• Take systems from concept through fabrication, assembly, wiring, commissioning, and ongoing support while targeting more than 99% uptime.
• Serve as the Responsible Engineer for centrifuges, TVAC systems, propulsion stands, gas benches, water-flow stands, and torch-test stands.
• Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams and maintain documentation, 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 wiring cabinets, PLCs, harnesses, and connectors, plus experience with Altium or comparable electronic schematic design software; the team is migrating to EPLAN.
• 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 through EtherCAT, Modbus TCP/RTU, RS-232/485 serial, or similar protocols.
• Experience with a 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.

Nice to have

• Aerospace experience, especially spacecraft testing or ground support equipment development.
• Familiarity with spacecraft qualification standards and related documentation requirements.
• Experience developing safety-related control systems and reducing safety-related risks.
• Programming experience in low-level firmware or Python.

Culture & Benefits

• On-site work at a facility where spacecraft, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested.
• Opportunity to work across mechanical, electrical, fluid, instrumentation, propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing systems.
• Systems are documented with accessible procedures and schematics to support reliable maintenance and onboarding.
• Eligible for incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards.
• Equal opportunity workplace committed to evaluating candidates and employees based on merit, qualifications, and performance.