Engineering Manager, Mechanisms (Aerospace)

Location: Onsite in Centennial, Colorado or Long Beach, California, with travel to other sites as needed.

Base salary: $155,000–$230,000 per year, plus equity and benefits.

Company

hirify.global develops autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, mission software, and space-based interceptors for U.S. and allied space-security missions.

What you will do

• Set the technical direction for spacecraft mechanisms, including precision gimbals, motor-driven actuators, and control electronics.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a mechanisms engineering team, including motor control engineering support.
• Oversee requirements, mechanical and motor-control design, analysis, procurement, integration, and testing.
• Develop precision pointing, tracking, and articulation systems for orbital payloads and antennas.
• Partner with GNC, avionics, systems engineering, software, and test teams on stabilized pointing, tracking, and spacecraft integration.
• Manage performance budgets, schedules, staffing, technical risks, design reviews, standards compliance, and stakeholder communication.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field; a master's degree is preferred.
• 10+ years of professional experience designing, developing, and testing spacecraft mechanisms.
• Experience with motor-driven actuation systems, including brushless DC motors, stepper motors, and drive electronics.
• Experience with precision pointing or tracking mechanisms such as gimbals, beam-steering systems, or antenna-pointing systems.
• Strong knowledge of kinematics, structural dynamics, bearing life, disturbance modeling, and GNC interfaces.
• Demonstrated ability to lead engineering teams and deliver complex hardware on schedule.

Nice to have

• Experience with space-qualified mechanisms, vacuum and thermal environments, lubrication, materials selection, and life testing.
• Experience with solar array drive assemblies, reaction wheels, motor-control firmware, or closed-loop servo systems.
• Knowledge of NASTRAN, ANSYS, mechanism simulation environments, 1G test stands, or gravity-offload testing.
• Familiarity with MIL-SPEC and NASA spacecraft standards, including GSFC-STD-7000 and MIL-STD-810.
• Startup or similarly dynamic work experience.

Culture & Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, HRA/HSA options, PTO, and paid holidays.
• 401(k), parental leave, and equity.
• Hands-on technical leadership in a fast-paced space technology environment.
• Ability to maintain or obtain TS//SCI clearance is required.
• U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residency, protected-individual status, or eligibility to obtain required U.S. export authorizations is required for ITAR compliance.