Outpost

Mechanical Engineer

Los Angeles, California

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 20 hours ago

LogisticsSolidWorksANSYSThermal AnalysisCommunicationWriting

About the role

Outpost's vehicles are unlike anything in the market, reusable, fabric-shielded, paraglider-guided Earth-return spacecraft.
You'll work alongside an integrated team and have meaningful ownership of your hardware from day one.

Design and develop mechanical systems for atmospheric recovery, including deployable structures, aerodynamic decelerators, recovery mechanisms, airframe interfaces, and precision landing hardware from requirements through release, build support, and qualification.
Develop CDR-level design packages: CAD, drawings, specifications, analysis, and test plans.
Perform or coordinate structural and thermal analysis to verify hardware margins.
Write and execute qualification and acceptance test procedures, support environmental test campaigns.
Drive design reviews (PDR/CDR) and prepare clear documentation, drawings, BOMs, and work instructions.
This role spans the full engineering lifecycle, design, analysis, drawing release, build support, and test.

Strong proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks, NX, or similar) and mechanical analysis tools (structural/thermal in Ansys - Solidworks).
Experience with reentry systems, atmospheric flight vehicles, TPS interfaces, or parachute/paraglider systems.
Experience in hypersonic, supersonic, or high-aero-load environments.
Familiarity with DOF-limited mechanisms and precision actuation in harsh environments.
Experience executing rapid, hands-on prototypes to support fast design-build-test cycles.
Write and read engineering requirements and interface control documents.
Strong cross-functional communication - you'll work daily with systems, integration, and test engineers.
Preferred Experience
Experience taking hardware through at least one formal design review (PDR or CDR)
exposure to qualification testing strongly preferred.

Participate in peer reviews and formal milestone reviews (CDR, TRR, etc.).
Perform other duties as required.
Bachelor's degree or higher in Aerospace, Mechanical, or Systems Engineering.
5-10 years designing flight hardware structures and mechanisms.
Experience taking hardware from concept to production and/or flight.
Strong proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks, NX, or similar) and mechanical analysis tools (structural/thermal in Ansys
Experience designing structures, mechanisms, deployables, or aerodynamic structures (parachutes/paragliders, flaps, linkages, hinges, etc.).
Understanding of load path, interfaces, and environmental requirements for high-energy flight environments.

Define and manage hardware requirements, interface with mission operations and payload customers.
We're looking for a Mechanical Engineer who will own the design and delivery of flight and ground hardware for our Atmospheric Entry (ATMO) subsystem, the hardware that keeps customer payloads safe from launch through landing.

This listing is sourced directly from Outpost's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.