Senior Mechanical Engineer
Inversion
$137,000 - $193,000 / year
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Description
Advanced Reentry Technologies
Who We Are:
Inversion is an aerospace and defense company pioneering advanced reentry technology to enable next-generation capabilities from space. By combining high-performance materials, precision aerodynamics, and mission-driven autonomy, Inversion is transforming reentry into an operational capability for an entirely new class of missions.
The company’s highly maneuverable reentry spacecraft, Arc, is designed for rapid global cargo delivery, hypersonic testing, and other national security missions that require precise, controlled flight through the atmosphere. Arc creates an entirely new transportation domain, unlocking unprecedented speed and global reach.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Inversion designs, manufactures, and integrates its spacecraft under one roof, enabling the company to move rapidly from concept to flight. The company is backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, with customers across the U.S. government and commercial space industry.
Position Overview
As a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer at Inversion, you will play a critical role in the design, packaging, and rapid iteration of hardware across multiple spacecraft and hypersonic development programs. This role spans flight hardware, prototype systems, integration support, and tooling that helps programs move quickly from concept to build. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to solve hard packaging and manufacturability problems while driving designs toward real hardware. You will be a key member of the Accurate Landing Team, reporting directly to the Director of Engineering, Accurate Landing. In this role, you will:
- Design and develop mechanical systems and mechanisms that enable the accurate and precise landing of our next-generation reentry vehicle.
- Lead the development of mechanisms for parachute deployment, control actuation, and drop test structures from cradle to grave.
- Test high-performance accurate landing and recovery systems through aerial drop test campaigns.
- Qualify designs through environmental testing, including vibration, shock, load, and thermal testing.
- Support prototype design, hands-on integration, fit checks, and issue resolution during build.
- Drive design trades across performance, manufacturability, schedule, and cost.
- Work closely with manufacturing, test, supply chain, and technician teams to bring designs from concept through fabrication and integration.
- Partner with outside vendors and suppliers to source parts, review manufacturability, and accelerate development.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience.
- Typically 5+ years of applicable hands-on experience developing mechanical systems, structures, and aerospace vehicles or equivalently complicated mechanical assemblies.
- Experience using Siemens NX or similar CAD software.
- Familiarity with FEA software packages such as ANSYS Mechanical, NASTRAN, FEMAP, or similar
- Experience producing engineering drawings and applying standard dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) per ASME Y14.5.
- Experience taking hardware from concept through fabrication, assembly, and integration.
- Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- 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.
- Experience with spacecraft, launch, reentry, hypersonic, or other high-performance aerospace systems.
- Demonstrated history of mechanical design product ownership from cradle to grave.
- Prior experience in the design and test of qualified space-flight hardware.
- Experience supporting prototype builds and rapid design iteration in a hardware-rich environment.
- Prior experience working in startups and/or small independent teams.
Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.
The California annual base salary for this role is currently $137,000-$193,000. 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.
Benefits
- stock options
About this role
Inversion is building spacecraft designed to deliver payloads from Low-Earth Orbit to anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions with high precision landing. As Senior Mechanical Engineer on the Accurate Landing Team, you'd own the mechanical systems and mechanisms that make this possible—from parachute deployment and control actuation to the structures that enable precise touchdown. You'd report directly to the Director of Engineering and work across the full lifecycle of hardware, from initial design trades through fabrication, assembly, integration, and drop test campaigns.
The role demands someone with at least five years of hands-on experience developing mechanical systems or aerospace vehicles, fluency in CAD (Siemens NX) and FEA tools, and a track record of taking designs from concept to qualified hardware. You'll spend significant time solving packaging and manufacturability problems in a fast-paced environment, collaborating with cross-functional teams, vendors, and technicians to iterate quickly. Experience with spacecraft, reentry systems, or hypersonic aerospace is valued, as is a history of working in startup settings where you owned designs end-to-end.
The position is in-office in Playa Vista, California, with a salary range of $137,000–$193,000. You'll need to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and able to obtain a Secret or Top Secret security clearance due to ITAR compliance requirements.
Typical pay for this role
$140,000
Typical range: $120,000 to $140,000
This role's local market on JobMinglr
Pay for this role
$137,000 to $193,000 per year
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