Mechanical Engineer II

What You'll Do:

At Inversion, we are designing and building cutting edge reentry vehicles which rely on efficient, first-principles based mechanical engineering design. As a Mechanical Engineer II at Inversion, you will play a critical role in the design, functionality, and performance of our next-generation reentry vehicles. This is a unique opportunity to work on the early stages of vehicle design, including defining vehicle architecture and creatively solving new design challenges.

• Own mechanical design efforts from cradle to grave for the reentry team including:
  • Primary and secondary vehicle structures
  • Payload accommodations
  • Thermal protection systems interfaces
• Partner with cross-domain stakeholders including propulsion and avionics to design and deliver mechanical systems critical to the vehicle's success.
• Size, package, and integrate flight components and subassemblies in the vehicle using CAD software
• Analyze flight and critical non-flight components using finite element analysis and hand calculations
• Develop test plans and equipment to qualify designs through environmental testing including vibration, shock, static load, and thermal testing.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Typically 2+ years of applicable hands-on experience developing mechanical systems, structures, and aerospace vehicles or equivalently complicated mechanical assemblies.
• Strong practical mechanical design skills related to mechanisms, packaging, high-load environments, and user interfaces.
• High familiarity with CAD software, such as Siemens NX.
• Familiarity with FEA software packages such as ANSYS Mechanical, NASTRAN, FEMAP, or similar, with an emphasis on modal and static structural analysis
• Experience producing engineering drawings and applying standard dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) per ASME Y14.5.
• Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Capable of working in a dynamic, fast-paced startup environment.
• This position is on-site at Inversion HQ in Playa Vista, CA.
• Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Hands-on vehicle integration or design for manufacturing experience of flight or vehicle structures, bracketry, and related components.
• Demonstrated history of mechanical design product ownership from cradle to grave.
• Experience with vehicle-level flight test campaigns and hardware qualification per SMC-S016, SpaceX Rideshare Payload Users Guide (RPUG), or similar requirements
• Prior experience in the design and test of qualified space-flight hardware.

Our office headquarters are located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in-office presence.

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $106,000-$150,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.

ITAR Compliance:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.