Mechanical & Structural Engineer

An ambitious early-stage space infrastructure company is building one of the most exciting new categories in the space economy: orbital infrastructure for AI compute. As demand for AI inference continues to grow, traditional data centre capacity on Earth is facing increasing constraints around power, land, and scalability. This team is taking a radically different approach: building satellite-based infrastructure that can unlock access to abundant solar power in orbit and help support the next generation of AI workloads. They are now hiring a Founding Mechanical & Structural Engineer to become the internal technical owner for the mechanical and structural side of the spacecraft. This is a rare opportunity to join at the ground floor and play a central role in shaping the design of the company’s first satellites. You’ll work across satellite structures, deployable solar arrays, radiator mechanisms, launch-load environments, FEA, materials selection, vibration considerations, testing, and design-for-scale. You’ll also collaborate closely with external manufacturing partners, helping guide design decisions, review technical outputs, troubleshoot issues, and ensure the architecture can move from early concept through flight‑ready hardware. This is not a narrow “support” role. The person joining will be a core member of the founding engineering team and a key voice in major technical trade‑offs around mass, cost, reliability, manufacturability, deployment, and long‑term scalability. The challenge is highly technical: large deployable structures, harsh launch and space environments, thermal/structural interactions, radiation considerations, and systems that need to work first time once they’re in orbit. The ideal candidate will bring strong spacecraft experience, ideally with hardware that has flown, and deep expertise across mechanical and structural engineering for satellites or complex aerospace systems. This is best suited to someone who wants real ownership, enjoys solving difficult first‑principles engineering problems, and is excited by the chance to help build a new layer of infrastructure in space. The team is small, engineering‑led, low ego, and moving quickly – so this is a chance to have outsized impact from day one. For the right person, this is the kind of role where you are not just joining a company – you're helping define the architecture of an entirely new market. #J-18808-Ljbffr