
Senior Opto-Mechanical Engineer
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Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers across the globe – large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military.
With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion of commercial contracts. Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization.
Astranis has raised over $1.2 billion from some of the world’s best investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Blackrock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Snowpoint, and employs a team of 500 engineers and entrepreneurs. Astranis designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.
Senior Opto-Mechanical Engineer
As an Astranis Opto-Mechanical Design Engineer you will own the complete lifecycle of various opto-mechanical systems on our spacecraft. Whether it is incremental improvements or the introduction of a new system, you will work together with the various other teams at Astranis to make them a reality.
In addition to being a significant individual on your own, you will mentor and train junior opt-mechanical engineers on such projects. You must have a strong problem-solving background, hands-on testing skills, and preferably some experience with spacecraft and/or aerospace engineering.
Role
- Develop new opto-mechanical products from concept and detailed design through engineering drawings, vendor selection, evaluation, prototype builds and production
- Design and integrate free-space optical assemblies, miniature optics, optical mounts and precision alignment mechanisms
- Perform detailed tolerance analyses and tolerance stack-ups for optical and mechanical assemblies
- Integrate mechanical, optical and electrical components into complex optoelectronic systems
- Lead mechanical and opto-mechanical design reviews
- Work closely with optical, electrical, manufacturing and other cross-functional engineering teams
- Assist in recruiting, interviewing, and hiring additional teammates to our rapidly-growing team.
Requirements
- B.S. or M.S in mechanical, aerospace engineering or equivalent
- 5+ years of opto-mechanical design experience, combining precision mechanical design with optical system integration
- Experience in detailed design, development and validation of mechanical assemblies from prototype through manufacturing
- Experience designing mechanical mounts, interfaces and assemblies for optical components such as lenses, mirrors, lasers/light sources, detectors, fibers or similar optical components
- Experience with precision optical alignment, including active and/or passive alignment; micron or sub-micron alignment experience is highly desirable
- Experience with free-space optics and miniature optical assemblies
- Experience working with suppliers and/or contract manufacturers
- A passion for hardware development, including working in a fast-paced environment with hands-on design and development
- A motivated leader who has experience mentoring and supporting junior engineers
- Understanding of how mechanical tolerances, thermal effects, vibration and assembly variation can affect optical performance and alignment
- Don't meet them all? Not a problem. Please apply even if you do not meet all these criteria
Bonus
- Experience running a development program while delegating to a small team
- Experience in synthesizing requirements and flowing them down to sub-scale verification builds and testing
- Knowledge of geometric optics and semiconductor packaging/assembly
- Experience designing prototype or production equipment for optoelectronic manufacturing
- Experience managing a team of engineers
Base pay is just one component of Astranis’s total rewards package. Your compensation also includes a significant equity package via incentive stock options, high-quality company-subsidized healthcare, disability and life insurance, 401(k) retirement planning, flexible PTO, and free on-site catered meals.
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About Astranis
Astranis is a space startup that builds small and low-cost telecommunications satellites to provide internet access in remote regions.
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