Your space-enabled career begins here

We are now looking for a talented Mechanical Design Engineer to join our Systems Team which we need in place for our service, both on the ground and in orbit, to achieve our goal of transforming return from space for the benefit of humanity.

The primary roles for this job are:

• Systems Design Engineering of our space missions and payloads, including mechanical component and assembly design, requirements definitions, researching technology, and creation of design documentation.
• Assisting with our testing campaign to verify our technologies.

Key areas of responsibility:

• Concept and detailed mechanical design of component parts and assemblies using a mechanical Computer Aided Design (CAD) packages with design, drawing, animation and simulation workspaces
• Spacecraft mechanical configuration management within CAD packages
• Design for Manufacture and Design for Assembly (DFA/DFM) reviews
• Writing and verifying requirements for our satellite and ground hardware
• Define and support testing and verification of subsystems and components
• Research, trade-off and selection of technologies and components
• Trade-off, design and verification of system configurations
• Creation and review of design documentation
• Creation and execution of test plans, assisting us with test days and during space missions.
• Helping us to define our company-level systems engineering approach.

A typical week:

• Working closely with the other disciplines in the engineering and manufacturing teams to solve problems and refine baseline designs to be manufactured, tested and flown
• Creating mechanical engineering models to provide answers to difficult problems.
• Carrying out trade-offs of concepts to solve specific problems
• Helping plan tests and then helping to run them
• Working with both ground and space hardware & software to build a complete mission
• Working remotely, in the office and out in the field to verify results
• Working with requirements and documentation to ensure our designs are consistent and validated.
• Research and talking to suppliers of key components
• Learning new skills and new areas in space engineering.

The Space Forge team is deliberately made from individuals who are adaptable and willing to learn new skills quickly. Therefore we are looking for engineers who are willing and able to adapt to the requirements asked of them whilst maintaining a good level of technical quality. Additionally, as a start-up, team members are sometimes asked to assist with duties beyond their nominal job description and we are looking for candidates who are happy to step up and try something new when needed.

Technical skills:

• (Essential) Professional experience with a mechanical CAD package using both parts and assemblies. Experience with Fusion 360 and Siemens NX specifically is preferable. Experience in Solidworks, CATIA, Onshape or other similar programs is considered transferable
• (Essential) Understanding of basic Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) manufacturing processes and how to design for manufacture and assembly
• Professional systems engineering experience related to requirements management, integration and test, concurrent engineering and deployment of hardware refreshes
• Working knowledge of European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) standards
• Experience with CubeSat or larger class missions
• Experience with practical testing to verify assumptions
• Bachelors or Masters degree in mechanical engineering (preferred), systems engineering or another relevant discipline

Human skills:

• Strong interpersonal skills to be able to communicate with teams working both in and out of the office;
• Able to communicate professionally with customers, suppliers and external stakeholders;
• Resilient and adaptable to technical and non-technical roadblocks, as many are expected
• Ability to operate successfully in a muti-contractor environment and manage multiple stakeholders with conflicting inputs in a demanding and rapidly changing environment
• Self-motivated, capable of delivering results with limited supervision

Note that we don’t expect applicants to have all of these skills, but a mixture of some. We are looking for people who are willing to work hard, think logically, have high energy levels, respect others’ abilities and ultimately have an unending appetite to learn a large number of new skills quickly. Space Forge is committed to making super-powered teams of diverse individuals in all senses of the term, therefore women are strongly encouraged to apply and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Salary expectation: £32,000 - £45,000 dependant upon experience

Beyond the salary, Space Forge has been set up to ensure that staff have everything they need to enjoy their work, as the executive team are strong believers in motivation and flexibility driving productivity. Therefore the current additional benefits are available to team members:

At Space Forge, we believe in creating the best possible workplace that suits every single person that joins us.

• Flexible working environment, work from where you like in the UK unless you need to be in the office, our remote work equipment is high spec too
• 25 days plus all UK bank holidays
• Pension scheme at 4% matched
• Charity or cause you’re passionate about? Up to 5 volunteering days a year to support the things closest to you and make an impact
• Super cool brand-new office and factory - the coffee is on us (and it’s certified carbon neutral too, our snazzy machine does anything from the humble americano to a superb flat white)
• Pizza payday - okay, it’s not always pizza, but if you’re at the office on payday, lunch is on us

• You’re the master of your own destiny. We offer every person at Space Forge a £1500 annual learning budget so you can choose the training or experiences to help you grow
• Annual subscription to Udemy with access to over 5000 courses
• Your mental health is important! You’ll have access to Spill - an all-in-one mental health support platform offering completely anonymous therapy sessions to our whole team

• Working with a passionate, friendly and highly motivated team
• Maternity / Paternity benefits beyond statutory

We are committed to building an inclusive workplace and that starts with hiring diversely. However you identify, and whatever background you bring with you, we welcome you to apply for a role at Space Forge.

We also believe our interview process should be inclusive and transparent and we take it very seriously. We want to give you time to learn about us while we get to know you. As always, if there is anything missing, or you've identified a way we can improve, just let us know!

For this role, we have a 2-stage interview process:

• 45-minute Culture and Values video call interview with 2 members of our team
• 60-minute Technical video call interview related to specific needs of the role with 2 members of the team you'll be most closely working with

CLOSING DATE: This application will close on 21st July 2023.