{"id":3559117,"url":"https://alion.io/job/xona-space-systems-mechanical-engineer","title":"Mechanical Engineer","company":{"id":685097,"name":"Xona Space Systems","domain":"xonaspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/xonaspace","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":91,"open_postings":50,"ghost_share":0.06,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":84,"computed_at":"2026-11-08T05:47:12Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"middle","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Burlingame, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":132000,"max":178000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":178000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"GD&T","optional":false},{"name":"SolidWorks","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-31T02:46:27Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-31","last_verified_at":"2026-11-08T06:20:44Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":8,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":7},"description":"Xona is the navigational intelligence company bringing real-time, centimeter-level certainty to any device, anywhere on Earth.\nWith Pulsar - the world’s most advanced PNT satellite infrastructure in Low Earth Orbit - Xona will offer a future-proof, backwards-compatible global positioning system optimized for absolute precision, superior power, and robust protection.\nRole Overview\nWe’re looking for a Mechanical Engineer who can independently take ownership of hardware and carry it from design through build and test. You will deliver spacecraft components, assemblies, and ground equipment, working closely with experienced engineers as your responsibilities grow.\nProjects may include primary structure, deployable mechanisms, launch vehicle interfaces, machined and sheet metal brackets, solar arrays, electronics enclosures, precision mounts, and high-criticality mechanical ground support equipment (GSE). Your assignments will evolve with the needs of the spacecraft and the team.\nYou will own defined projects and assemblies, make day-to-day engineering decisions, and seek review when risks or interfaces require broader expertise. We value engineers who enjoy working with physical hardware, investigate problems carefully, and follow through on the details that make a design work.\nWhat you will do\nOwn assigned components and assemblies from requirements through design, procurement, build, verification, and production support, with senior guidance on complex architecture and high-risk decisions.\n\nDesign flight hardware and mechanical GSE; create and release CAD, drawings, bills of materials, and interface definitions with appropriate GD&T, tolerance analysis, and configuration control.\n\nEvaluate design options for strength, stiffness, packaging, manufacturability, assembly, cost, and schedule. Document recommendations and participate in design reviews.\n\nUse first-principles calculations and structural FEA appropriate to the hardware. Work with senior engineers and analysis specialists to confirm loads, assumptions, margins, and thermal interfaces.\n\nBuild and evaluate prototypes, develop fixtures and functional test setups, and use measurements and test results to improve designs.\n\nSupport assembly, integration, and qualification of assigned hardware, including occasional vibration and thermal vacuum (TVAC) test support, hardware preparation, and review of findings.\n\nInvestigate manufacturing, integration, and test anomalies. Develop and verify corrective actions with the team, update documentation, and support production when issues arise.\n\nWork directly with suppliers and technicians to answer technical questions, review manufacturability and inspection needs, and resolve issues affecting hardware delivery.\n\nCoordinate interfaces across mechanical, thermal, electrical, payload, and integration and test teams. Track your commitments, communicate risks early, and ask for support before issues affect delivery.\n\nRequired qualifications\nBachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering field.\n\n3+ years of professional mechanical hardware development experience, with demonstrated ownership of components or assemblies.\n\nExperience carrying hardware through detailed design, fabrication, assembly, and physical testing; ability to explain your own decisions and results.\n\nSolid mechanical fundamentals, including load paths, joints and fasteners, materials, thermal and optical properties, machining, sheet metal fabrication, GD&T, and tolerance analysis.\n\nProficiency in 3D CAD and engineering drawings using SolidWorks or a comparable platform, with experience following controlled release and revision processes.\n\nAbility to substantiate designs with engineering calculations and working knowledge of structural FEA, including loads, constraints, and basic checks of model results.\n\nHands-on experience using tools, assembling hardware, developing test setups, and troubleshooting discrepancies between designs and actual hardware.\n\nAbility to manage defined projects independently, communicate technical issues clearly, collaborate across disciplines, and incorporate design feedback.\n\nPreferred qualifications\nExperience with spacecraft hardware, launch environments, or other high-reliability hardware with demanding structural and environmental requirements.\n\nExperience with deployment or separation mechanisms, precision assemblies, electronics packaging, or spacecraft handling and lifting equipment.\n\nExperience supporting vibration, shock, or thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing and using test results to improve hardware.\n\nExperience transitioning designs into repeatable production, resolving supplier issues, or improving assembly and inspection processes.\n\nExperience owning a small subsystem, working in a cleanroom, or supporting qualification and acceptance testing of flight hardware.\n\nExperience in every hardware category listed above is not expected. We are interested in the depth of your engineering work, the hardware you have delivered, and your ability to apply that experience to new problems.\nFor U.S. Roles: To comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e. Green Card holder), or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).\nFor U.K. Roles: To comply with U.K. regulations, this role requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks, and successful candidates must be eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC).\nFor Canada Roles: Successful candidates must obtain and hold a security clearance at the reliability status level, and pass security assessment for the Canadian Controlled Goods Program (CGP) and ITAR.\nWe celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6057,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"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":["Satellite Navigation","Satellite Manufacturing"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-31T02:46:51Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":8,"expected_fill_days":84,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-08T05:47:12Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":178000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/xona-space-systems-mechanical-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/xona-space-systems-mechanical-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-08T08:46:50Z","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":19022,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-09T00:00:00Z"}},"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":685097},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=685097"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fxona-space-systems-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%2Fxona-space-systems-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%2Fxona-space-systems-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/xona-space-systems-mechanical-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fxona-space-systems-mechanical-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3559117}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"xonaspace.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3559117},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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