Mechanical Engineer (Lasercom)

Location: On-site in Culver City, California. Relocation assistance to Los Angeles is available.

Company

hirify.global is a seed-stage aerospace company building a high-throughput point-to-point data transport network in space using free-space laser links in Medium Earth Orbit.

What you will do

• Design gimbal and coarse-steering mechanisms, including bearings, drives, encoders, stiffness budgets, and backlash budgets.
• Design telescope supports, enclosures, and terminal structures that preserve optical alignment under wind, thermal, and handling loads.
• Own structural analysis for stiffness, modal behavior, and survival loads, and correlate models with test results.
• Define mechanism requirements with PAT and GNC engineers, including slew rates, pointing stiffness, and jitter contributions.
• Drive design-for-manufacturability and repeatable assembly from the demonstrator through production ground stations.
• Select and manage suppliers and machine shops, and support terminal integration and field deployment.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in mechanical engineering or a related discipline.
• Depth in mechanism design, including gimbals, rotation stages, actuators, bearings, and drive trains.
• Structural design and analysis experience with FEA tools such as ANSYS Mechanical or equivalent.
• Professional 3D CAD proficiency using NX, SolidWorks, Creo, or equivalent, including toleranced fabrication drawings.
• Hands-on prototyping, assembly, and testing experience, with the ability to make sound decisions using incomplete data.
• Role levels range from Associate through Senior and Principal Mechanical Engineer, with scope and compensation calibrated to experience.

Nice to have

• Experience with precision pointing mechanisms such as telescope mounts, antenna gimbals, or tracking pedestals.
• Experience designing outdoor or field-deployed hardware, including sealing, corrosion, wind, and seismic loads.
• Experience with encoders, servo drives, mechanism-level tuning, kinematic mounts, athermalization, or optical-alignment structures.
• Experience with vibration, shock, and thermal-cycle testing, or materials tradeoffs for stiffness, weight, and thermal stability.

Culture & Benefits

• Seed-stage environment with direct ownership of the demonstrator terminal and its transition to repeatable production.
• Employee stock options included in compensation offers for full-time employees.
• Medical, vision, and dental insurance with significant company coverage for employees and dependents.
• Paid parental leave, three weeks of accrued vacation, and ten company holidays per year.
• Dedicated equipment and laboratory budget.