You’ll design and build mechanical hardware for laser communications terminals, from optical ground stations to space-based systems. Your impact is immediate. We go from a sketch to a bench prototype in weeks, then build, test, and ship flight hardware on a timeline measured in months. You’ll own your assemblies and work alongside optics, electrical, controls, and manufacturing engineers to build, align, and test them.
Design terminal hardware such as optical benches, telescope structures, mounts, enclosures, and electronics packaging.
Work with optics and systems engineers to set mechanical interfaces, alignment tolerances, and stiffness and thermal stability requirements. Use hand calculations and finite element analysis (FEA) to evaluate designs.
Create production drawings, bills of materials, and interface documentation.
Work with shops and suppliers to make parts easy to build, assemble, and align.
Build, align, and troubleshoot prototypes with technicians through rapid design iterations. Design fixtures and write procedures for repeatable assembly and testing.
Plan and support environmental tests for the intended deployment, such as vibration, shock, or thermal vacuum. Use test results to improve the hardware and prepare it for production.
Qualification
Hands-on experience building
Required
3+ years designing mechanical hardware in aerospace, optics, robotics, precision equipment, or a related industry.
BS in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.
Proficiency with 3D CAD such as SolidWorks and experience applying geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) and tolerance stack-up analysis to production drawings and mechanical interfaces.
Working knowledge of structural and thermal analysis and design for manufacturing and assembly.
Hands-on experience building, testing, and troubleshooting mechanical assemblies.
Preferred
Experience with free-space optical terminals, pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) systems, or fine-pointing hardware such as fast steering mirrors.
Experience with precision optical mounts, alignment tooling, or structural, thermal, and optical performance (STOP) analysis.
Experience qualifying hardware for spaceflight or rugged outdoor environments.
Experience taking precision hardware from prototype builds into repeatable
