Senior Mechanical Engineer (Structures)

Sr. Mechanical Engineer (Structures)

Location: Playa Vista, California (in-person, five days per week) 

Outpost is pioneering Earth return logistics for space. We're building vehicles that can return payloads from orbit safely and precisely, enabling faster space-based manufacturing, global delivery, and entirely new capabilities in the space economy. Our spacecraft is already backed by the U.S. government with multiple missions ahead. We’re a mission-focused team, building with urgency, grit, and care for the work we do and the people we do it with. 

The Role 

The Sr. Mechanical Engineer (Structures) will serve as the technical authority for the primary structures and deployment mechanisms of Outpost’s Carryall. This is a role for a veteran structural engineer who has "been there, done that" on full-scale flight vehicles whether launch vehicles, satellites, or re-entry capsules. 

Unlike traditional spacecraft roles where the structure simply needs to survive launch, you are designing for the round trip: launch vibration, the harsh vacuum of orbit, and the extreme thermal and mechanical loads of hypersonic re-entry and landing. You will own the structural architecture of the vehicle, moving rapidly from trade studies to detailed analysis, and finally to hands-on integration. We need someone with the deep intuition that comes from 15+ years of seeing hardware fly (and fail).

Responsibilities

• Structural Architect: Lead the mechanical design of the entire vehicle structure, including the deployable aerobrake ribs, pressure vessels, nose cone assembly, and payload interfaces.
• High-Fidelity Analysis: Perform and sign off on detailed hand calculations and Finite Element Analysis (ANSYS/FEMAP/NASTRAN). You will be the final check on stiffness, buckling, and thermal expansion compatibility before metal is cut.
• Mechanism Design: Architect complex, high-reliability deployment mechanisms that must actuate after months in orbit, including hinges, latches, and release devices.
• Drawing & GD&T: Create and approve high-quality manufacturing drawings with appropriate geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (ASME Y14.5) to ensure parts fit the first time.
• Build & Test Leadership: "Get your hands dirty" leading the assembly of your designs. Own the structural test campaign (static load, random vibration, shock, and deployment testing) to qualify hardware for flight.
• Vendor & Partner Management: Work directly with machine shops, composite vendors, and external partners to resolve fabrication conflicts and ensure on-time delivery of precision parts.
• Mentorship: Elevate the team's standard of engineering rigor. Mentor junior engineers in design best practices, analysis methods, and First Principles thinking. 

 Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical, Aerospace, or Structural Engineering.
• 10+ years of experience (15+ preferred) in the design and analysis of complex aerospace structures and mechanisms.
• Full-Vehicle Heritage: Proven track record working on full space vehicles or rockets (not just subsystems). You should have experience taking a primary structure from concept through PDR/CDR to flight.
• CAD Proficiency: Expert-level skill in Siemens NX, SolidWorks, or similar parametric modeling software.
• Analysis Expertise: Deep background in structural analysis (FEA) and classical hand calculations. You must trust your hand calcs before you trust the solver.
• Materials Knowledge: Extensive understanding of aerospace materials (aluminum, titanium, Inconel, composites) and their behavior in extreme thermal environments.
• Manufacturing Fluency: You understand the limits of manufacturing, CNC machining, sheet metal, welding, and composite layup, and you design for them. 

Preferred Experience 

• Active U.S. Government Security Clearance (Secret or Top Secret).
• Master’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline.
• Experience with deployable space structures (booms, solar arrays, antennas, or