{"id":2826799,"url":"https://alion.io/job/wardstone-senior-mechanical-engineer","title":"Senior Mechanical Engineer","company":{"id":3806068,"name":"Wardstone","domain":"wardstone.space","url":"https://alion.io/company/wardstone-2","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Gem","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["El Segundo, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":140000,"max":170000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":170000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"GD&T","optional":false},{"name":"MIL-STD-810","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-18T20:19:56Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-18","last_verified_at":"2026-10-24T22:58:48Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":6,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":6},"description":"Overview\nYou will own major structural and mechanical subsystems on the interceptor, such as airframe sections, internal structure, fin actuation, separation mechanisms, or the launcher interface. You’ll take them from first concept through analysis, fabrication, ground test, and live flight. You’ll report to the Mechanical Engineering Lead and work alongside the founders and the propulsion, aerodynamics, controls, and electrical engineers.\nThe vehicle has to survive extreme launch, aerodynamic, vibration, and thermal loads. It also has to fit hard volume and interface limits set by existing launchers. At our stage, you’ll have real ownership: your designs will fly.\nWhat You’ll Do\nDesign subsystems\nOwn the design of your assigned structures and mechanisms from requirements through flight hardware.\nRun structural, vibration, shock, and thermal analysis on your subsystems, including hand calculations and FEA.\nProduce production-ready CAD models and drawings with GD&T, following the team’s standards.\nContribute to vehicle-level work, including OML trades, loads analysis, and mass properties.\nIntegrate with other teams\nWork with propulsion and aerodynamics on thermal loads, structural margins, and interfaces.\nWork with electrical and controls to package, route, and mount avionics, harnesses, and actuators.\nBuild and test\nSelect materials and processes for your hardware, including composites, high-strength alloys, and high-temperature materials.\nWork directly with vendors and machine shops to get parts made correctly and on time.\nDesign test fixtures and rigs, run structural and environmental tests, and use the results to improve your designs.\nBuild and modify hardware yourself in our in-house shop.\nHelp raise the bar\nPresent your work in design reviews and give useful reviews of others’ work.\nHelp shape team practices, and mentor junior engineers as the team grows.\nRequired Qualifications\nB.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.\n5+ years of experience designing flight or high-load hardware.\nHas owned at least one subsystem from design through test.\nStrong CAD skills, including complex assemblies and drawings with GD&T.\nStrong structural analysis skills, including hand calculations and FEA for static, dynamic, and vibration loads.\nMaterial selection experience for high-stress aerospace applications.\nComfortable working hands-on with hardware in a shop and test environment.\nMust be a U.S. person as defined by ITAR (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual). [Must be eligible to obtain a U.S. security clearance.]\nNice to Have\nHardware experience on missiles, rockets, UAVs, or other high-speed aerospace vehicles.\nMechanism design experience, such as actuators, deployables, or separation systems.\nManual or CNC mill and lathe proficiency.\nExperience with MIL-STD environmental testing (e.g., MIL-STD-810: thermal, vibration, shock).\nExperience designing and building your own structural test rigs.\nPrior early-stage startup experience.\nCompensation\nThe base pay range for this role is $140,000 - $170,000 per year.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3112,"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":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Air Defense","Defense AI"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-18T23:15:13Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":5,"expected_fill_days":36,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":170000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/wardstone-senior-mechanical-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/wardstone-senior-mechanical-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-24T23:01:12Z","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":33807,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-25T00:00:00Z"}},"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":3806068},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3806068"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fwardstone-senior-mechanical-engineer"},{"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%2Fwardstone-senior-mechanical-engineer"},{"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%2Fwardstone-senior-mechanical-engineer"},{"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/wardstone-senior-mechanical-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fwardstone-senior-mechanical-engineer"}]}