Launch Engineer, Mechanical Systems III (Aerospace)

Location: Launch sites including Vandenberg Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the United States, Wallops Flight Facility, and Esrange Space Center in Sweden; requires up to 25% travel and off-hour support during launch operations.

Company

hirify.global develops space and defense systems for reliable launch, landing, and operation of missions from Earth to the Moon and beyond.

What you will do

• Design, build, activate, and commission mechanical ground support equipment across multiple launch sites.
• Own structural systems, mechanisms, hydraulic systems, vehicle transport and handling equipment, tooling, and other mechanical ground systems.
• Lead design reviews and collaborate with engineers, technicians, external partners, customers, and site personnel.
• Perform structural analysis using hand calculations and FEA, troubleshoot non-conformances, and support anomaly investigations.
• Write activation, maintenance, and vehicle-handling procedures and develop strategies to maximize system availability.
• Direct Fluids and Mechanical GSE team members, support hiring, and contribute to launch operations and process development.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with mechanical or structural systems, mechanisms, hydraulics, tooling, flight hardware, or test operations.
• Strong 3D CAD experience and experience creating and interpreting engineering drawings, including GD&T.
• Experience with complex system design, fabrication, troubleshooting, hazard and risk analysis, and engineering project management.
• Knowledge of fabrication, welding, machining, assembly practices, and relevant ASME, AWS, AISC, and aerospace standards.
• Ability to work in launch-site environments involving field testing, lifting equipment, hazardous materials, and night or weekend launch shifts.

Nice to have

• Master's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering.
• Experience with ANSYS, FEMAP, Siemens NX Nastran, hydromechanical systems, data acquisition, and data analysis.
• Experience at a federal launch range and familiarity with Jira, Confluence, SVN, or Bitbucket.
• Ability to obtain a security clearance.

Culture & Benefits

• High-impact engineering work where concepts become hardware supporting live launch operations.
• Collaboration with multidisciplinary design, operations, site, customer, and external partner teams.
• Opportunities to participate in launch console operations and launch-day red-team activities.
• Travel to test and launch sites may be required for program support.