Project Kuiper is an initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world.

The Kuiper Government Engineering team is a multi-disciplinary technology team involved in developing and delivering targeted and scalable solutions for custom satellite and ground applications. The Government Engineering team works closely with the core Kuiper team, and addresses the needs of specific customers (such as government agencies). The Senior Mechanical Engineer will play a pivotal role in the team delivering innovative and fast-paced analysis and design for both space and ground systems and sub-systems.

The Senior Mechanical Engineer will have a background in space based and ground based mechanical design and analysis including electro-mechanical systems integration. The ideal candidate has experience making major optimization trades for payloads and system architectures. This is a hands-on role for a highly collaborative individual that combines superb technical and analytical capabilities to convert analytic trade studies to a space qualified payload, while meeting cross discipline requirements. The candidate will have a sharp focus on the specific needs of the customer and be able to conduct or direct the thermal and structural analyses to show that proposed solutions will meet the customer’s goals.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience working on complex programs with a diverse set of talented individuals, as well as with partner organizations (including government agencies). The candidate will exhibit the potential to lead small sub-teams of mechanical engineers, and be able to prepare easy-to-read and technically compelling written reports.

Key job responsibilities
- Perform mechanical design and layout trade studies for satellite payloads or structures, ground based communication equipment, and test support hardware contributing to overall system architecture including inputs and requirements from cross discipline teams - Electrical, RF, Optical, Thermal, Dynamics, Mechanisms, Materials, Manufacturing, Assembly, and Test
- Conduct or oversee structural and thermal analysis via finite element methods as needed to support design work and to demonstrate that technical solutions will meet the needs and requirements of the customer’s mission and application
- Facilitate cost trades on multiple parallel configurations for cost/manufacturability vs design uncertainty
- Generate detailed designs via CAD systems and engineering drawings with appropriate geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T)
- Deliver well-written documentation, reports, and presentations for technical design reviews and as part of proposal efforts
- Design and support test campaigns, both development and qualification/acceptance, for space hardware.
- Interact directly with customers to understand technical requirements, and translate them into technically robust solutions backed by data and analysis

Security Clearance: This position requires that the candidate selected be a US Citizen and candidates must be able to obtain and maintain a US Government security clearance of TS/SCI.