Director, Mechanisms Engineering - Pharmaceutical Payloads (Aerospace)

Location: On-site in El Segundo, California, United States. Candidates must be U.S. persons authorized to work in the United States because the role involves access to export-controlled technology.

Salary: $200,000–$250,000 per year, plus potential stock options and/or long-term cash awards.

Company

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

What you will do

• Build, lead, and mentor the payload engineering team responsible for pharmaceutical payload missions.
• Own the pharmaceutical payload development roadmap, product portfolio, design iterations, and mission cadence.
• Direct execution across schedule, cost, technical performance, engineering quality, and customer contracts.
• Define standards for payload design, analysis, integration, testing, mission operations, documentation, and project management.
• Coordinate payload interfaces and constraints with avionics, software, thermal, systems, integration, and vehicle teams.
• Standardize environmental testing, post-flight inspection, anomaly resolution, and lessons-learned processes.

Requirements

• BS/BEng in mechanical, aerospace, biomedical, mechatronics, or a related engineering discipline.
• 10+ years designing, integrating, testing, and delivering complex electromechanical hardware involving precision fluid handling.
• 3+ years leading teams through full-cycle hardware development.
• Experience with electromechanical fluid systems in high-reliability or extreme environments.
• Experience across at least two adjacent hardware disciplines and a demonstrated ability to set technical direction through other engineers.
• U.S. person status and authorization to work in the United States are required for access to export-controlled technology.

Nice to have

• Experience with pharmaceutical, bioprocess, sterile, or cleanroom manufacturing hardware.
• Knowledge of microgravity fluid behavior, capillary-driven flows, or two-phase fluid management.
• Familiarity with cGMP principles and regulated hardware environments.
• Experience planning and executing vibration, TVAC, and EMI/EMC testing.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employment with flexible PTO and 12 paid holidays.
• Company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance, with FSA and employer-matched HSA options.
• 12 weeks of parental leave and family-building, parenting, pregnancy, and menopause benefits.
• 401(k) plan with a 6% immediately vested employer match and incentive equity.
• Relocation support may be available for new hires.
• Daily lunch, twice-weekly dinner, team events, EV charging, and a wellness reimbursement.