Mechanisms Manufacturing Engineer

K2 SpaceLos Angeles, CA

Posted 15 Sept 2026

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About the role

<div class="content-intro">K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.</div>The Role&nbsp;

Partnering with&nbsp;Mechanisms Engineering team&nbsp;early&nbsp;in the process, you will&nbsp;ensure manufacturability, build the first prototype, design the build flow&nbsp;and fixturing, and&nbsp;finalize&nbsp;the process&nbsp;for transition&nbsp;to production.&nbsp;Once transitioned, you will have the opportunity to make a positive impact scaling production to meet K2’s ever-growing demand.&nbsp;You will test out new techniques for manufacturing&nbsp;complex&nbsp;mechanisms&nbsp;such as&nbsp;rotational actuators, separation mechanisms, gimbals, reaction wheel assemblies, among other electromechanical&nbsp;assemblies.&nbsp;In your first 6 months you will develop manufacturing methods and tooling for&nbsp;the mechanisms, define manufacturing flows for&nbsp;mechanisms&nbsp;subsystems,&nbsp;build test articles to support the Mechanisms Engineering team’s development and qualification test campaigns, and collaborate with them to provide Design-for-Excellence (DFX) guidance across mechanisms, machined components, and higher-level assemblies.&nbsp;In your first year you will implement these advanced manufacturing techniques on flight hardware and transition the technology you develop to&nbsp;high-rate&nbsp;production. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Responsibilities&nbsp;

<ul>

<li>Experience providing design-for-excellence (DFX) guidance to design teams&nbsp;with&nbsp;mechanical&nbsp;design&nbsp;engineers&nbsp;to ensure design&nbsp;guidance&nbsp;for&nbsp;initial&nbsp;design,&nbsp;flight hardware, and tooling&nbsp;</li>

<li>Develop innovative manufacturing systems for&nbsp;large&nbsp;spacecraft&nbsp;mechanisms, including&nbsp;electromechanical sub-assemblies, harnessing,&nbsp;welded/bolted structures,&nbsp;and&nbsp;mechanisms&nbsp;</li>

<li>Create custom tools&nbsp;and processes to support the manufacturing technologies you create including Manufacturing Execution System&nbsp;(MES)&nbsp;software&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>

<li>Demonstrate the advanced manufacturing techniques on prototypes, working with the design teams to improve the manufacturability of the designs&nbsp;</li>

<li>Develop the subassembly build flow and&nbsp;iterate&nbsp;to create an efficient&nbsp;production flow for the satellite&nbsp;</li>

<li>Partner with a team of advanced manufacturing engineers to perform R&amp;D of novel manufacturing technologies for current and future spacecraft products&nbsp;</li>

<li>Build test articles and support the Mechanisms Engineering team’s development and qualification test campaigns, iterating on hardware and processes as test results come in&nbsp;</li>

</ul>

Qualifications&nbsp;

<ul>

<li>Bachelor’s degree in electrical, mechanical,&nbsp;aerospace,&nbsp;or other relevant engineering discipline&nbsp;</li>

<li>3+ years of experience in a&nbsp;high volume, rapid production environment in a&nbsp;manufacturing,&nbsp;integration,&nbsp;and/or&nbsp;design&nbsp;engineering role&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience with mechanisms-specific industry standards such as NASA-STD-5017 (Design and Development Requirements for Mechanisms) and AIAA S-114 (Moving Mechanical Assemblies for Space and Launch Vehicles), as well as familiarity with the environmental qualification standards (SMC-S-016, GSFC-STD-7000)&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience providing design-for-excellence (DFX) guidance to design teams across mechanisms, machined components, and mechanical assemblies&nbsp;</li>

<li>Demonstrated results with product development and/or process improvements&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience setting up a manufacturing/production floor for first article builds&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience designing and implementing technologies for&nbsp;mechanisms&nbsp;manufacturing including wire harness manufacturing and&nbsp;complex&nbsp;mechanical&nbsp;assembly&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience with GD&amp;T and mechanical assembly drawings, with the ability to review and provide feedback on electrical and mechanical designs&nbsp;</li>

</ul>

Nice to Have&nbsp;

<ul>

<li>Familiarity with precision bearing standards (e.g., ABMA) and bearing preload techniques and measurement, as used in rotational actuators, gimbals, and reaction wheel assemblies&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience designing tooling for mechanical subassemblies&nbsp;and&nbsp;electromechanical subassemblies&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience designing hardware for manufacturability&nbsp;</li>

<li>Demonstrated experience developing production processes from the ground up including driving design improvements for manufacturing&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience working closely with technicians and&nbsp;building&nbsp;tooling&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience with aerospace manufacturing standards such as&nbsp;torque specifications, welding standards, and quality assurance standards&nbsp;</li>

<li>Familiarity with CAD software (NX or equivalent)&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience working with MES to set up&nbsp;the&nbsp;foundation for procedure creation and&nbsp;documenting&nbsp;non-conformance&nbsp;</li>

<li>Some&nbsp;Experience with wire harness manufacturing and integration&nbsp;</li>

</ul>

Compensation and Benefits:<span

From K2 Space's careers page on Greenhouse. See the original posting. OneProfile isn't the employer and doesn't take applications; you apply on their site.

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