Job Details

Engineering Manager, Mechanical (Spacecraft)

Denver, CO or Long Beach, CA

True Anomaly delivers decisive capabilities for space superiority. We build autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, mission software, and space-based interceptors enabling the U.S. and its Allies to secure the space environment and counter threats from the ultimate high ground.

Your Mission

We are seeking a Manager of Spacecraft Mechanical Engineering to build, lead, and develop a high-performing team of 610 mechanical engineers working across our LEO/GEO satellite, small sat, and on-orbit servicing vehicle programs. This is a people leadership role that also maintains your connection to the work through executing scope. In partnership with other managers you will co-own organizational health, department best practices, standard processes, requirements, technical direction, hiring, and career development for a team spanning entry-level through staff engineers. You will partner closely with systems engineering, program management, propulsion, avionics, and manufacturing to ensure the mechanical engineering function delivers flight-ready hardware with speed, precision, and quality across all active programs. If you are a seasoned spacecraft mechanical engineer ready to lead a team doing some of the most consequential vehicle design work in the defense space industry, this is your mission.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead, and develop a team of 610 Mechanical Engineers across LEO/GEO satellite, small sat, and on-orbit servicing vehicle programs at the GravityWorks facility.
• Own all people management responsibilities: hiring, onboarding, performance management, compensation reviews, career development planning, and succession planning; partner with recruiting to define roles, calibrate experience levels, and close top engineering talent.
• Set clear performance expectations and individual development plans for each team member; identify and develop future technical leads and staff engineers; foster an inclusive, high-trust team culture grounded in True Anomaly's values of relentless ownership, intellectual curiosity, and first-principles thinking.
• Serve as the engineering authority and escalation point for spacecraft mechanical design decisions across all active programs spanning structures, mechanisms, electronics packaging, and propulsion integration; develop and maintain mechanical engineering standards, design practices, GD&T conventions, and CAD model management disciplines across the team.
• Establish design review cadence, perform technical checker duties on high-criticality deliverables, and ensure quality and completeness of the team's mechanical design packages; chair or oversee spacecraft design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, MRR, PSR) and drive closure of technical risks, RFIs, and action items.
• Interface directly with program managers, chief engineers, and customer stakeholders on mechanical status, risk, and schedule; drive DFM culture into upstream hardware design organizations and establish formal cross-functional touchpoints.
• Lead resource planning and capacity management across concurrent programs; partner with systems engineering, propulsion, avionics, thermal, and manufacturing teams to ensure cross-discipline integration and system-level compliance, and flag resourcing gaps to leadership.
• Champion continuous improvement in mechanical design efficiency, drawing and model quality, and hardware delivery cycle time; support proposal efforts and new program captures in partnership with program management and business development.
• Maintain working-level technical oversight of spacecraft mechanical design including: primary and secondary structural design and margin compliance, mechanism and deployment system development, electronics and avionics packaging, propulsion subsystem mechanical integration, mass properties management, and ICD ownership; develop and approve qualification and acceptance test plans, witness testing, and resolve anomalies and non-conformances.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline; graduate degree strongly preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in mechanical design, with the majority spent on spacecraft or satellite hardware programs; at least 3 years in a formal people management role or equivalent experience leading, mentoring, and technically directing a team of engineers; demonstrated success hiring, developing, and retaining engineering talent across multiple experience levels (entry through staff).
• Clear understanding of product life cycles and program execution; proven track record managing a complex mechanical design portfolio across multiple concurrent spacecraft programs from concept through flight delivery, including ownership of technical risk, schedule, and cross-subsystem integration.
• Demonstrated expertise in spacecraft structural design for launch load environments, including experience with multiple launch vehicle ICDs and structural margin compliance; extensive hands-on experience with spacecraft mechanisms design, including flight-qualified deployment systems, precision mechanisms, and on-orbit moving assemblies.
• Expert-level proficiency in NX (Siemens) and/or SolidWorks, including complex multi-subsystem assemblies and configuration management; mastery of GD&T principles with experience defining and enforcing drawing standards across a team or organization; strong familiarity with spacecraft and aerospace standards (e.g., NASA-STD-5001, GEVS, AIAA S-110, MIL-SPEC) and their application to design, analysis, and test.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and executive-level communication skills; ability to influence program management, systems engineering, propulsion, avionics, manufacturing, and quality organizations without direct authority, and to present complex technical topics to senior leadership, customers, and government stakeholders.
• U.S. citizenship required; ability to obtain or maintain an active Secret clearance required.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Direct management experience leading mechanical engineering teams of 5 or more engineers in an aerospace or defense environment; prior experience building team processes, role ladders, and engineering standards from the ground up at a high-growth defense or new space company.
• Prior experience as a lead mechanical engineer or chief engineer on a spacecraft program, with ownership of vehicle-level mechanical architecture and cross-subsystem integration across multiple programs delivered to flight.
• Deep experience with on-orbit servicing, proximity operations, or rendezvous and docking systems, including servicer-to-client structural and mechanism interfaces; experience with smallsat and CubeSat platforms including rapid development cycles, COTS hardware integration, and aggressive mass and volume constraints.
• Experience with spacecraft electronics packaging: avionics integration, thermal interface design, harness architecture, and integration and test planning; familiarity with structural analysis and FEA methods (e.g., NASTRAN, Ansys) and ability to guide and review analysis performed by the broader team.
• Experience supporting business development, proposal writing, and new program captures in a technical leadership capacity.
• Active Secret or TS/SCI clearance.

Compensation

• Base Salary: $140,000-$225,000
• Equity + Benefits including Health, Dental, Vision, HRA/HSA options, PTO and paid holidays, 401K, Parental Leave

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, location, and experience.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to maintain or obtain TS//SCI clearance
• Work Location this role will be onsite at either our Centennial, CO or Long Beach, CA location, with travel to other sites as needed.
• Work environment the work environment; temperature, noise level, inside or outside, or other factors that will affect the person's working conditions while performing the job.
• Physical demands the physical demands of the job, including bending, sitting, lifting and driving.