Senior Mechanical Engineer (Structures)

Position Details

• Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA

• Employment Type: Full-time

• Department: Starlight Solar

• Travel: Occasional

The Mission

Starpath develops and manufactures the technologies that will enable humans to live on the Moon and Mars. Today, we are building robotic systems that locally produce the essential commodities a lunar civilization will require at extreme scale: water, power, and oxygen. Our ultimate goal is to build and operate a self-sustaining city on Mars.

Senior Mechanical Engineer (Structures)

The Starlight team is focused on dramatically improving space solar power to support Starpath’s core mission and the broader space economy. Starlight manufactures the lowest-cost, highest-performance space solar power systems, which will power the majority of new satellites built on Earth and all of Starpath’s equipment on the Moon and Mars.

As a Senior Mechanical Engineer on the Structures team, you will own the structural architecture, design, analysis, and qualification of Starlight’s solar array hardware. You will serve as a technical authority for lightweight space structures, resolving complex design and integration challenges from early trade studies through flight qualification and production.

Responsibilities:

• Own structural systems from architecture through detailed design, analysis, fabrication, qualification, and flight

• Establish structural requirements, load cases, factors of safety, margin policies, and verification approaches

• Lead architectural trades involving mass, stiffness, strength, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and system performance

• Develop efficient load paths and lightweight primary and secondary structures, interfaces, brackets, housings, and mechanisms

• Perform and review hand calculations and FEA covering stress, stiffness, buckling, fatigue, joints, thermal distortion, modal response, and dynamic environments

• Develop and maintain structural models, loads documentation, margin summaries, and verification records

• Own material, fastener, joint, finish, and manufacturing-process selections for the launch and space environments

• Define structural qualification and acceptance-test programs covering static load, vibration, shock, and modal testing

• Lead test-to-model correlation and use test results to improve both hardware and analytical models

• Lead structural design reviews, failure investigations, risk-reduction efforts, and corrective actions

• Work across thermal, avionics, mechanisms, controls, and systems teams to define interfaces and resolve coupled design challenges

• Partner with manufacturing and suppliers to develop repeatable fabrication, inspection, assembly, and production processes

• Identify structural risks early and create focused analysis or testing plans to retire them

• Mentor engineers and establish sound structural design, analysis, documentation, and test practices

• Drive mass reduction and design simplification without compromising structural integrity

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, structural engineering, or a related discipline

• 6+ years of professional mechanical-design or structural-engineering experience

• Demonstrated ownership of complex structural hardware from concept through qualification or production

• Strong command of structural mechanics, load paths, joints, stress, stiffness, buckling, fatigue, and structural dynamics

• Proficiency with 3D CAD, GD&T, tolerance analysis, and detailed engineering drawings

• Advanced experience performing and reviewing structural analysis using hand calculations and FEA

• Experience defining structural test programs and correlating analytical models with test data

• Hands-on experience building, testing, troubleshooting, and improving mechanical hardware

• Ability to lead technical decisions, communicate risk clearly, and coordinate across engineering and manufacturing teams

• Evidence of exceptional engineering ability

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, structural engineering, or a related discipline

• Experience owning structures that have survived launch and operated in space

• Advanced proficiency with Nastran, Abaqus, Ansys, Femap, or similar FEA tools

• Experience with quasi-static loads, random vibration, shock response, modal analysis, thermal distortion, fatigue, and coupled-loads analysis

• Experience leading static load, vibration, shock, and modal qualification campaigns

• Expertise in test planning, instrumentation, data interpretation, and test-to-model correlation

• Experience designing lightweight structures across machined, sheet-metal, welded, composite, and bonded construction

• Deep knowledge of aerospace materials, fasteners, joint design, and structural margin policies

• Experience with deployable structures, hinges, latches, actuators, or other spacecraft mechanisms

• Familiarity with NASA-STD-5001, GEVS, and other applicable aerospace structural standards

• Experience transitioning flight hardware from prototype development into repeatable production

EAR Requirements:

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, you must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Equal Opportunity:

• Starpath is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Benefits:

At Starpath Robotics, base pay is just one part of your total rewards package. We also offer:

• Generous benefits including health, dental, vision, and retirement plans.

• Paid time off, holidays, and flexible policies to support balance.

• Professional growth opportunities through training and development.

• The chance to own high-impact work that directly shapes the future of robotics & space!

• A collaborative, mission-driven culture where craftsmanship and innovation are celebrated.