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Senior Structural Design Engineer

Playa Vista, California, United States

Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth

Who We Are: 

Eras of humanity can often be defined by a dominant transportation mode - horse-drawn chariots, ocean-going boats, or aircraft. A small group of people spurred these rigorously focused on building technology to achieve faster access to more of the world. We seek to usher in a new era of humanity defined by universal access to the whole globe, free of borders and the presence of a routine way from space to Earth. To do this, we are building highly maneuverable re-entry vehicles that can loiter in orbit before precision landing back on Earth.   

What You’ll Do:

As our Structural Design Engineer for payload systems, you will take complete ownership of the payload bay and all associated payload systems for our reentry vehicle. This is a high-impact, high-responsibility role where you will not only lead development but also serve as the company's subject matter expert for all things payload.

Your work will be instrumental in developing our company's core capability. You will operate at the intersection of engineering, business development, and mission management, giving you significant input on mission level architecture and strategy. This role offers the freedom to define our payload capabilities, translating customer feedback and innovative concepts into flight hardware for a range of commercial and defense missions.

We are building our Missions Team with this role as a focal point. You will have the authority to drive your design from concept through manufacturing, test, launch, and reentry making a direct impact on our success.

Required Qualifications:

  • Minimum of bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or related field OR equivalent experience 
  • Excellent communication skills and the ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team of mechanical, electrical, and software engineers, designing and building space-flight hardware
  • Strong mechanical design skills related to mechanisms, packaging, high-load environments, and user interface
  • Familiarity with CAD software
  • Creative package design experience to meet a range of customer needs
  • Comfortable with all aspects of a program, taking a design from concept through launch and reentry
  • Typically 6+ years applicable experience (open to experience in fields other than aerospace)
  • Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment. Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills. 
  • This position is onsite at Inversion HQ in Playa Vista, CA.

Desired Qualifications:

  • Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or related field
  • 8+ years applicable experience (open to experience in fields other than aerospace)
  • Familiarity with design and test standards such as SMC-S-016, MIL-STD-810H, and launch vehicle payload user’s guides
  • Prior experience in design and test of qualified space-flight hardware 

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $140,000-$180,000.  Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data.  Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.  

ITAR Compliance:
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  
 
Equal Employment Opportunity:
Inversion provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or disability.  
 
Inversion collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.  If you are a US Job Applicant see the CCPA Privacy Policy Notice for further details.

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