Varda Space
Principal Mechanisms Engineer - Payloads
$182K–$232K
El Segundo, California, United States · Principal · Full-time · Posted Sep 17, 2026
- Experience
- 7+ years; 3+ years of cross-functional project leadership preferred.
- Education
- BS/BEng in Mechanical, Aerospace, Mechatronics, or related field.
- Visa sponsorship
- Must be a U.S. person: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual admitted as a refugee or granted asylum.
About the job
Defines and leads the development of electromechanical payload hardware for spaceflight, hypersonic reentry, and recovery missions, from architecture through testing and operations.
What you'll do
- Lead payload architecture, mechanism design, system analyses, and cross-functional project teams.
- Drive requirements, integration, verification, testing, mission operations, recovery, and anomaly resolution.
- Represent engineering to internal leaders and external partners, mentor engineers, and improve development practices.
What they ask for
- BS/BEng in Mechanical, Aerospace, Mechatronics, or a related field.
- 7+ years designing, integrating, testing, and troubleshooting electromechanical hardware.
- Deep mechanical expertise and breadth in at least two adjacent disciplines.
- Track record leading teams through full-cycle electromechanical spaceflight hardware development; experience communicating with technical and executive audiences.
Nice to have
- 3+ years of cross-functional project leadership; experience planning and executing aerospace environmental testing.
- Experience leading government-facing technical programs; active Secret or Top Secret clearance.
Pay
$181,913 - $232,444 per year (base salary)
Tools
Python, MATLAB, FEA
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative