Launch Vehicle Mechanisms Engineer III

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the first commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the first company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

The Launch Vehicle Mechanisms Engineer III is responsible for the design, analysis, development, and qualification of moving mechanical assemblies for launch vehicle programs. This role provides technical leadership across the full lifecycle of mechanisms such as stage separation systems, deployment mechanisms, hold-down and release systems, and other flight-critical moving assemblies. This requires both technical and artistic aspects to be able to define the motion of a piece of hardware and then push theory into a functional product through detailed analysis and documentation.

• Individual contribution and teamwork as the technical owner to develop and produce moving mechanical assemblies that meet the requirements to accomplish the goal of supporting launch vehicle missions.

• Create and manage hardware definition though CAD and drawings.

• Perform and/or guide detailed analysis including structural margins, fatigue, contact, wear, thermal effects, tolerance stack-ups, and dynamics of moving systems.

•Build confidence and reliability through documentation.

• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams to ensure mechanisms integrate seamlessly with structures, avionics, propulsion, and operations.

• Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain to ensure mechanisms are producible, inspectable, and flight-ready.

• Support build, integration, and acceptance activities, resolving fit, function, and performance issues to ensure a successful product.

• Lead development, qualification, and acceptance testing of mechanisms, including component-, subassembly-, and system-level tests.

• Provide technical mentorship to junior engineers, elevating mechanism design quality.

• Act as a subject-matter expert for mechanisms across programs and projects.

• B.S. in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field.

• 6+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and qualifying mechanical mechanisms for aerospace or high-reliability systems.

• Demonstrated experience with flight-critical mechanisms such as separation systems, deployment mechanisms, actuators, latches, hinges, springs, and release devices.

• Strong understanding of kinematics, tribology, tolerance analysis, lubrication, and wear in aerospace environments.

• Experience designing and testing for extreme environments including vibration, shock, thermal cycling, vacuum, and cryogenic conditions.

• Proficiency with FEA or classical hand calculations methods to evaluate strength, stiffness, and fatigue.

• Experience supporting production builds, resolving nonconformances, and improving producibility.

• Experience defining qualification and acceptance test programs and interpreting test data.

• Proven ability to make sound, defensible engineering decisions under schedule and program constraints.

• M.S. or PhD in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related discipline or 8+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and qualifying mechanical mechanisms for aerospace or high-reliability systems.

• Experience with launch vehicle or spacecraft programs from development through qualified flight.

• Experience driving hardware from a test though successful product.

• Experience with design and qualification of separation systems.

• Experience with shock mitigation strategies.

• Proven history of successful mechanisms with high lifecycle counts and minimal refurbishment.

• Familiarity with scripting or programming for analysis, automation, or data reduction.

• Working knowledge of AIAA S-114, NASA 5017b, SMS-S016, NASA 5020, GEVS