{"id":2472704,"url":"https://alion.io/job/stoke-space-mechanical-engineer-payload-module-jettison-systems","title":"Mechanical Engineer (Payload Module Jettison Systems)","company":{"id":10918,"name":"Stoke Space","domain":"stokespace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/stokespace","size_band":"501-1000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":80,"open_postings":52,"ghost_share":0.25,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":139,"computed_at":"2026-10-15T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["Kent, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":109725,"max":148470,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":148470},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-13T16:28:30Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-13","last_verified_at":"2026-10-15T07:40:18Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":1},"description":"At Stoke, we believe a thriving space economy will enable a vibrant, sustainable, and equitable future here on Earth. That is why we’re building Nova, our fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle. Designed for daily flight, Nova tackles the core challenges of space transportation by reducing cost, increasing availability, and improving reliability. By radically lowering launch costs and increasing flight cadence, we’re helping create a truly scalable space industry.\nOur team is mission-driven, collaborative, and empowered to take ownership of their work. If you want to work alongside some of the most dedicated and talented people on Earth, we’d love to have you join us.\nDescription\nWe're looking for a Mechanical Engineer with rock-solid fundamentals, a love of mechanisms, and a bias for action to own the payload fairing jettison system on Nova. You'll own the system end to end: the separation and clearance analysis, the pneumatics, actuators, and mechanisms that make it work, the integrated tests that prove it, and the operation and reuse of that hardware after flight. You'll carry the current system to flight and help define the next generation of separation and deployment systems for our reusable fairing. If you want one critical system that is yours from analysis to flight, this role is for you.\nResponsibilities\nOwn the fairing jettison system from requirements definition and analysis through verification, vehicle integration, flight operations, refurbishment, and reuse\nDevelop and run jettison dynamics and clearance analyses, including dispersions, to show margin for each mission; derive system requirements and loads, and correlate the analysis to test data\nDesign, analyze, procure, qualify, and integrate pneumatics, actuators, and mechanisms\nCreate CAD models and manufacturing drawings with proper GD&T\nWork directly with machinists, technicians, and suppliers to build and test your hardware, on schedule and on budget\nPlan and run integrated jettison tests, from development through qualification\nTroubleshoot failures, disposition non-conformances, and drive root cause corrective action\nLead design reviews and communicate technical decisions clearly\nRun trade studies on separation and deployment architectures for our next-generation reusable fairing, payload adapters, and dispensers\nMinimum Qualifications\nBachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field\n5+ years of hands-on engineering experience designing, building, and testing hardware\nExceptional command of mechanical engineering fundamentals (statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, heat transfer, fluid mechanics)\nExperience designing, analyzing, and testing pneumatics, actuators, or mechanisms\nProficiency with 3D CAD and creating detailed manufacturing drawings\nWorking knowledge of GD&T per ASME Y14.5\nExperience with structural analysis, both hand calcs and FEA\nHands-on test experience: test plans, instrumentation, running tests, and correlating data back to analysis\nProven ability to take ownership, work independently, and deliver results\nStrong communication skills: you can explain complex problems simply\nPreferred Qualifications\nExperience with multibody dynamics analysis (Adams, Simscape Multibody, LS-Dyna, or similar) and Monte Carlo dispersion analysis\nFamiliarity with design and qualification to NASA-STD-5017 and AIAA S-114\nExperience with launch vehicle separation systems: fairing jettison, stage separation, or payload separation\nExperience with NX, ANSYS, and Femap (or similar tools)\nExperience designing for launch vehicle environments (vibration, shock, vacuum, thermal cycle)\nExperience with reusable hardware: inspection, refurbishment, and life tracking\nExposure to separation electrical systems, separating connectors, or harness routing\nExperience in fast-paced startup or rapid development environments\nTrack record of shipping hardware from first principles through flight\nBenefits\nEquity - We know that our employees are the reason we succeed. To give everyone a stake in our future, we are pleased to offer equity in the form of stock options to all regular, full-time employees. \nComprehensive benefits program including subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance \nCompany-paid life and disability insurance \n401(k) plan with employer match \n4 weeks’ Paid Time Off \nHolidays - 10 days (including an end-of-year closure) \nPaid Family/Parental Leave \nOn-site gym or monthly wellness stipend (depending on location) \nDog friendly offices! \nCompensation\nTarget Levels:\nLevel 2 Range: $109,725 - $148,470\nLevel 3 Range: $129,150 - $193,620\nOur job posts are intentionally written to attract a wide variety of experience levels, and we make decisions about the right fit on a per-candidate basis. \nYour actual level and base salary will be decided based on your specific experience and skill level.\nITAR Requirements\nTo conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S. (i.e., current Green Card holder), or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).\nEqual Opportunity \nThe Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including with respect to disability and veteran status. It is committed to compliance with all equal opportunity laws, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and Title VII. It does not discriminate on the basis of nationality, race, citizenship, immigration status, or any other protected class when it comes to employment practices, including hiring. \nEmployment at the Company is contingent upon satisfactory completion of reference and background checks, and on your ability to prove your identity and authorization to work in the U.S. for the Company. Employees must comply with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services employment verification requirements, and, therefore, they must complete an Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 at the start of employment and re-verify authorization to work periodically.\nSeparate from this I-9 process, as noted above, this position entails access to certain technology and technical data that is restricted under U.S. export control laws and regulations. Employment or continued employment may be conditioned on your legal authorization to work with or have access to export control materials as necessary to perform your job.\nCandidate Rights & Accommodations\nIf you require a reasonable accommodation to complete the application or participate in the interview process, please contact . Requests will be handled in accordance with applicable laws. Please do not include medical or other confidential information in your initial request.\nFor more information about your rights, please refer to the \"Know Your Rights\" notice here. \nE-Verify\nStoke Space uses E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires. \nFor more information on the right to work, please refer to the poster here.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7080,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Parental leave","Pet friendly","Stock options","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Launch Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-13T20:21:19Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":1,"expected_fill_days":139,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-15T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":148470,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/stoke-space-mechanical-engineer-payload-module-jettison-systems","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/stoke-space-mechanical-engineer-payload-module-jettison-systems.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-15T09:40:26Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":14567,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-16T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":10918},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=10918"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fstoke-space-mechanical-engineer-payload-module-jettison-systems"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fstoke-space-mechanical-engineer-payload-module-jettison-systems"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fstoke-space-mechanical-engineer-payload-module-jettison-systems"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/stoke-space-mechanical-engineer-payload-module-jettison-systems\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fstoke-space-mechanical-engineer-payload-module-jettison-systems"}]}