{"id":992476,"url":"https://alion.io/job/varda-space-industries-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-2","title":"Mechanisms Engineer - Payloads","company":{"id":58875,"name":"Varda Space Industries","domain":"varda.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/varda-space-industries","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":80,"open_postings":24,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":6,"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"}},"role":"Aerospace","role_family":"Aerospace","seniority":null,"employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["El Segundo, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":105000,"max":139466,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":139466},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"ANSYS","optional":true},{"name":"Nastran","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-17T04:05:49Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-20","last_verified_at":"2026-10-27T05:02:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":40,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":40},"description":"About Varda\nLow Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.\nFrom life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind. \nOur team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital. \nVarda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. \nJoin Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.\nAbout this Role\nAs a Mechanisms Engineer on Varda’s Payload team, you will develop electromechanical flight hardware that operates in orbit, endures hypersonic reentry, and returns to Earth for inspection and iteration. You will take full-stack responsibility for payloads across both pharmaceutical manufacturing and hypersonic reentry testbed missions-delivering flight hardware from concept through build, test, launch, and recovery.\nYou’ll collaborate closely with internal specialists and external partners, translate engineering requirements into flight-ready designs, and perform hands-on integration and testing to deliver hardware that flies in months, not years. This role is ideal for engineers with strong mechanical fundamentals who want to grow their breadth across thermal, fluids, avionics, software, and integration while shipping real hardware to space and back.\nResponsibilities\nOwn payload hardware from concept through design, integration, launch, reentry, and recovery\nDesign mechanisms, structures, thermal/fluid interfaces, and electromechanical assemblies\nRun structural, thermal, and fluid analyses (hand calcs, simplified models, and FEA as needed)\nBuild, instrument, and test prototypes and flight hardware\nWork across avionics, software, thermal, systems, and integration teams to define interfaces and ensure compatibility\nServe as the primary technical point of contact for assigned payloads\nGenerate documentation: requirements, ICDs, procedures, test reports\nSupport mission operations and post-flight teardown\nContribute to lessons learned and continuous improvement\nBasic Qualifications\nBS/BEng in Mechanical, Aerospace, Mechatronics, or related engineering discipline\nStrong fundamentals in structures, heat transfer, fluids, and dynamics\nHands-on experience designing, integrating, testing, and troubleshooting electromechanical hardware\nAbility to communicate effectively across disciplines\nPreferred Qualifications\nExperience integrating electromechanical actuators, sensors, thermal control hardware and/or fluid control hardware\nExperience using CAD (NX preferred) and FEA (Ansys, Nastran)\nExposure to aerospace environmental testing (vibration, TVAC, EMI/EMC)\nCustomer-facing technical communication experience\nAbility to obtain a government security clearance\nPay Range\nSalary range:Engineer I: $105,000 - $139,466/per year\nEngineer II: $119,543 - $152,749/per year\n\nThis role is on-site in El Segundo, CA\nLeveling and base salary is determined by job-related skills, education level, experience level, and job performance\nYou will be eligible for incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards\nITAR Requirements\nVarda, like all employers, must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally, our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items, our policy is to only hire “U.S. persons” who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.\n“US person” means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e., individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum).\nE-Verify Statement\nVarda Space Industries, Inc. participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program. The E-Verify program is an Internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Learn more about the E-Verify program.\nE-Verify Notice Right To Work Notice\nRead more Read more\nVarda Space Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Candidates and employees are always evaluated based on merit, qualifications, and performance. We will never discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, martial status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5646,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Stock options"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Satellite Manufacturing","Space Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-17T04:33:21Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":3,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.114,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":40,"expected_fill_days":6,"reasons":["conf:0","stale_co","velocity","win:tail","crowd:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":139466,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/varda-space-industries-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-2","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/varda-space-industries-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-2.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-27T09:20:04Z","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":10416,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-28T00:00:00Z"}},"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":58875},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=58875"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fvarda-space-industries-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-2"},{"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%2Fvarda-space-industries-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-2"},{"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%2Fvarda-space-industries-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-2"},{"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/varda-space-industries-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-2\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fvarda-space-industries-mechanisms-engineer-payloads-2"}]}