Mechanical Designer - Airborne

Matter Intelligence

$100K — $120K *
Aerospace & Defense
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience in mechanical design for complex hardware.
  • Strong knowledge of packaging, tolerancing, materials, and manufacturing processes.
  • Ability to collaborate with various engineering disciplines (optical, electrical, etc.).
  • Hands-on experience with fabrication and assembly intricacies.
  • Prior experience with airborne or aerospace systems is a plus.

Responsibilities

  • Create detailed designs, drawings, and bills of material for airborne payload hardware.
  • Translate technical constraints into effective packaging solutions.
  • Implement design-for-manufacture and design-for-assembly practices actively.
  • Support prototype builds and hardware troubleshooting efforts.
  • Ensure configuration control and integrate feedback from tests into designs.

Benefits

  • 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Early-stage equity package in a growth-focused company.
  • Opportunity to contribute to innovative projects in sensing and AI systems.
  • Supportive work environment aimed at employee success.
Full Job Description
About the Role

Matter is hiring a Mechanical Designer focused on airborne payload hardware. This role will turn engineering concepts into detailed, manufacturable designs and support hardware from early packaging through fabrication, assembly, integration, and flight testing.
Key Responsibilities
  • Create and maintain detailed mechanical designs, assemblies, drawings, and bills of material for airborne payload hardware.
  • Translate system, optical, electrical, thermal, and structural constraints into practical packaging solutions.
  • Apply sound design-for-manufacture and design-for-assembly practices while working closely with suppliers and internal builders.
  • Support prototype builds, fit checks, integration, test-fixture development, and hardware troubleshooting.
  • Maintain configuration discipline and incorporate lessons from fabrication, test, and flight operations into design updates.
Qualifications
Required
  • Experience producing detailed mechanical designs and release-ready engineering drawings for complex hardware.
  • Strong working knowledge of mechanical packaging, tolerancing, materials, and manufacturing processes.
  • Ability to collaborate with engineers across optical, electrical, structural, thermal, and systems disciplines.
  • Hands-on judgment and attention to detail through fabrication, assembly, and integration.
Preferred
  • Experience with airborne, aerospace, precision-instrument, robotics, or other mass- and volume-constrained hardware.
  • Experience packaging optical and electronic components with tight alignment or environmental requirements.
  • Familiarity with rapid prototyping and low-volume production environments.
What Success Looks Like
  • Designs are complete, manufacturable, and released on time with clear configuration control.
  • Hardware assembles and integrates as intended with minimal avoidable rework.
  • Design updates incorporate evidence from build, test, and flight operations quickly and accurately.
Location

This role is based in El Segundo, CA, and requires onsite work.
ITAR Requirements

To comply with U.S. export regulations, applicants must be one of the following:
  • A U.S. citizen or national
  • A lawful permanent resident (green card holder)
  • Eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
Employee Offerings and Benefits

At Matter, we believe in rewarding high performance and providing the support you need to thrive. Our compensation and benefits package includes:
  • Competitive compensation based on experience
  • Early-stage equity package
  • 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision coverage
  • Opportunity to work on novel sensing, data, and AI systems with real-world deployment paths to the largest industries in the world

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