Principal Design Engineer

ABOUT THE TEAM 

In the Space Special Programs team, we build spacecraft and space systems which serve a wide variety of functions in the space architecture. At a time when space superiority can no longer be taken for granted and with space systems proliferating at an incredible rate, the Space Special Programs team provides advanced, mission critical capabilities to our customer base to be able to more effectively operate and survive within this expanding environment with limited personnel. Working across product, engineering, sales, logistics, operations, and mission success, the Space Special Programs team develops, tests, deploys, and operates new, unique, space capabilities to drive mission success in challenging operational environments.  

ABOUT THE JOB 

Anduril is seeking a Senior Design Engineer to join the Space Special Programs team at our Chantilly, VA location. Here you will work on core technologies, subsystems, spacecraft, and complete space systems supporting the Space Special Programs team and core mission. This development includes but is not limited to optical systems, batteries, mechanisms, control systems, and sensors. The primary function of this role is to be a highly experienced resource to help implement and influence the team’s development roadmap, be a resource for mentoring and growing the engineering team, and to be an individual contributor in both technical and strategic areas. This role requires high ownership and frequent collaboration with other core disciplines. The ideal candidate would be practical, hands-on and a self-starter, with significant experience designing, analyzing, building, and operating spacecraft mechanical, opto-mechanical, and both passive and active mechanisms – experience machining components is a significant plus. High growth potential is possible as well as additional leadership opportunities. 

WHAT YOU’LL DO 

• Execute rapid evaluation of engineering concepts in a wide range of fields 
• Create solutions (with analysis, design, and experimentation) to blue-sky engineering problems and targeted mission needs alike 
• Design, analyze, implement, and test complex electro-mechanical systems 
• Maintain High level system ownership with large levels of professional autonomy 
• Participate in design reviews, integration and test campaigns, launch-site and on-orbit operations campaigns 
• Build prototypes, analyze failures, and transition successful projects into production 
• Mentor engineers and help them learn the art of small spacecraft design and test – teach them your mistakes so they won’t need to repeat them 
• Support critical hardware demonstrations with customers as needed 
• Travel to test sites as needed 
• Use first principles, physics, and personal experience as a basis for every decision 
• Identify partners in industry to engage with, and manage early vendor relationships 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS 

• Experience in an immersive technical project (professional settings) 
• Demonstrated leadership skills  
• 20+ years of mechanical and mechanism design experience in a professional setting 
• 10+ years designing systems for spacecraft and associated space systems 
• Experience in ground-up system design and any 3-D CAD  
• Hands-on assembly, prototyping, testing, and performance characterization of mechanisms designed for 0g but in a 1g environment. 
• Experience designing and building very small mechanisms, components, and systems.  
• Familiarity with launch environments, testing for launch environments, range safety, and system integration efforts 
• Demonstrated creativity and “out of the box thinking” for spacecraft mechanisms with an eye toward simplicity and reliability 
• High competence with, and fluid use of, engineering first principles 
• Strong organizational skills 
• BS, MS or PhD in an engineering field, or equivalent work experience 
• Must be a U.S. Citizen and able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance 
• Ability to work within our company and team culture 
• Ability to be pragmatic about problem solving 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS 

• Experience machining and modifying mechanical components 
• Outstanding leadership and interpersonal skills 
• Familiarity with designing MGSE to support spacecraft testing and development 
• Experience with Electro-Mechanical design concepts and working at the interface between electrical and mechanical components 
• Practical experience with electrical engineering tools (Oscilloscopes, power supplies, electronic loads, multimeters) 
• 3+ years of experience working in a classified environment