Position Title: Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer
Location: Kennedy Space Center - Merritt Island, Florida
Relocation Assistance: None available at this time
Remote/Telework: No - Full-time onsite position at Kennedy Space Center
Clearance Required: Must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident and successfully complete a U.S. government background investigation
Employment Type: Full-time, Salaried, Exempt
Work Schedule: Full-time
Travel: Travel as needed to other NASA centers and commercial partner facilities

Position Summary

Aegis Aerospace, Inc. is seeking a Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer to support engineering activities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This position supports technical insight, design evaluation, mechanical assessment, and engineering analysis related to spacecraft provider designs, mechanical systems, mechanisms, and associated flight hardware.

The Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer will evaluate spacecraft mechanical systems and mechanisms throughout design, analysis, testing, manufacturing, integration, and operation. The selected candidate will work alongside members of an integrated performance team, including structures, thermal, electrical, mission design, materials, contamination, and space environments experts, to assess provider designs and their ability to fulfill mission requirements.

This role includes independent technical assessment of mechanical designs as well as targeted CAD modeling, fit checks, interface evaluations, and analysis support where needed to provide additional technical insight for the NASA customer.

Key Responsibilities

The candidate will:

• Provide technical insight and assessment of spacecraft mechanical systems, mechanisms, and associated flight hardware.
• Evaluate provider mechanical designs, analyses, test approaches, manufacturing considerations, and operational concepts to identify technical risks and support design maturity assessments.
• Provide insight and oversight throughout the design, analysis, testing, manufacturing, integration, and operation of spacecraft mechanical systems and mechanisms.
• Assess spacecraft mechanisms and mechanical assemblies, including hinges, latches, deployment systems, actuators, release mechanisms, payload restraint systems, doors, hatches, movable structures, and mechanical interfaces.
• Evaluate mechanism performance considerations, including kinematics, loads, clearances, alignment, tolerances, margins, interfaces, reliability, lifecycle performance, and credible failure modes.
• Plan and conduct independent engineering assessments of complex spacecraft mechanical systems and mechanisms to evaluate provider designs, assumptions, margins, technical risks, and proposed design refinements.
• Review technical analyses, test plans, test results, drawings, CAD models, interface definitions, and other engineering products to assess technical adequacy.
• Perform CAD-based assessments, including fit checks, volume and envelope evaluations, interface assessments, center-of-mass evaluations, and other rapid mechanical evaluations needed to support technical insight.
• Prepare, manipulate, defeature, and export CAD models and STP files at appropriate levels of fidelity to support structural, thermal, fluid, and other integrated engineering analyses.
• Support stress and structural assessment activities, including model input preparation and coordination with structures and loads and dynamics engineers.
• Evaluate mechanism performance across applicable environments, including launch loads, vibration, shock, thermal environments, vacuum, contamination, and other relevant mission conditions.
• Support technical investigations involving mechanical anomalies, design changes, interface concerns, nonconformances, and other emerging issues.
• Work alongside members of the integrated performance team to evaluate multidisciplinary interactions and determine the potential effects of mechanical designs or changes on overall spacecraft performance.
• Participate in technical interchange meetings, design reviews, test reviews, working groups, and other engineering forums with NASA, international, and commercial partners.
• Serve as a technical resource for spacecraft mechanisms and mechanical systems by providing recommendations and supporting technical rationale to NASA customers and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Clearly communicate technical findings, risks, recommendations, and supporting rationale to NASA customers and integrated engineering teams.
• Track multiple tasks and independently prioritize work to support program needs and technical deadlines.
• Travel as needed to other NASA centers and commercial partner facilities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline from an accredited university.
• Ten (10) or more years of relevant mechanical or aerospace engineering experience.
• Demonstrated experience with mechanical systems, mechanisms, flight hardware, or complex mechanical assemblies.
• Strong understanding of mechanical engineering fundamentals, including loads, kinematics, mechanical interfaces, tolerances, fasteners, bearings, actuators, structural behavior, and mechanical design practices.
• Experience evaluating mechanical designs, engineering analyses, drawings, CAD models, test results, and other technical products.
• Experience reviewing, manipulating, modifying, or developing mechanical models with Siemens NX, SolidWorks, or comparable CAD software.
• Ability to independently assess complex engineering information, identify technical risks or questionable assumptions, and communicate technically supported conclusions and recommendations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team environment and develop cooperative relationships with NASA, international, and commercial partners.
• Ability to track multiple tasks and prioritize work independently.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident Green Card Holder and successfully complete a U.S. government background investigation.
• Ability to work full-time onsite at Kennedy Space Center and travel as required.

Desired Qualifications

• Direct engineering experience with spacecraft, launch vehicles, spaceflight hardware, or other highly complex aerospace systems is strongly desired.
• Direct experience with spacecraft mechanisms, including deployment mechanisms, latching systems, actuators, release mechanisms, payload restraint or accommodation hardware, doors, hatches, docking or berthing interfaces, or other moving mechanical systems.
• Experience supporting the design, development, integration, qualification, acceptance testing, or operation of flight hardware.
• Experience evaluating mechanism kinematics, loads, lifecycle requirements, tolerance stack-ups, clearances, reliability, or failure modes.
• Knowledge of bearings, gears, motors, springs, dampers, lubrication, tribology, and other components commonly used in spacecraft mechanisms.
• Experience with mechanical environmental testing, including vibration, shock, thermal-vacuum, deployment, lifecycle, or qualification testing.
• Proficiency with Siemens NX and/or SolidWorks.
• Familiarity with finite element analysis tools such as NASTRAN or comparable analysis software.
• Working knowledge of and experience with NASA design, analysis, verification, and requirements documentation.
• Experience working in an engineering insight, surveillance, independent assessment, or customer technical oversight role.
• Familiarity with applicable NASA mechanical, structural, and spacecraft design standards.
• Systems engineering experience or demonstrated ability to evaluate mechanical hardware within a broader integrated spacecraft system.

To learn more about Aegis Aerospace, visit our website at http://www.AegisAero.com