Head of Mechanical Design Engineering

About this role

<p><strong>About Us</strong></p> <p>Besxar Space Industries, Inc. (Besxar) is building off-Earth foundries that use the natural ultra-high vacuum of space as a manufacturing input. Our Fabships are designed to produce trusted, ultra-high-yield semiconductor materials that are difficult or impossible to make on Earth at comparable purity and defect performance.</p> <p>We are not building a science project; we are building a new industrial capability. That means real hardware, rapid iteration, disciplined execution, and a willingness to challenge assumptions from first principles as we design, fly, learn, and improve mission by mission.</p> <p><strong>About the Team</strong></p> <p>Mechanical engineering is central to Besxar’s ability to turn space into a factory floor. This role sits at the core of Fabship development: owning major assemblies, translating ambiguous mission and business requirements into manufacturable hardware, and helping define how the mechanical team operates as we scale.</p> <p>You will work shoulder-to-shoulder with systems, electrical, software, materials, manufacturing, and test to build flight hardware on real schedules. The expectation is hands-on leadership across concepting, CAD, release, build, integration, test, failure learning, and design iteration.</p> <p><strong>Roles & Responsibilities</strong></p> <ul> <li>Lead mechanical design and R&D for Besxar Fabships, including concept development, trade studies, detailed design, and integration strategy across structures, mechanisms, interfaces, enclosures, and support tooling.</li> <li>Directly own major CAD assemblies and product structure/BOM for critical systems; maintain strong configuration discipline, clear interfaces, and high-quality drawing release packages.</li> <li>Design with metallic materials and space-rated components, selecting appropriate materials, finishes, fasteners, bearings, seals, sensors, and purchased parts for high-reliability space hardware.</li> <li>Translate system requirements into manufacturable mechanical designs that balance performance, mass, stiffness, thermal behavior, contamination sensitivity, serviceability, cost, and schedule.</li> <li>Perform and review hand calculations, tolerance stack-ups, GD&T, fit/interface studies, and FEA as needed to close designs with appropriate engineering margin.</li> <li>Lead prototype builds and hands-on assembly/integration in the lab; create or review assembly procedures, work instructions, test plans, and inspection criteria.</li> <li>Bring a strong lessons-learned mindset: use prior design experience, build feedback, supplier issues, test data, and failure investigations to improve each hardware revision and avoid repeating mistakes.</li> <li>Partner with internal technicians and external vendors to move parts from design through fabrication, inspection, assembly, and verification.</li> <li>Lead or contribute to design reviews, root-cause investigations, and anomaly resolution with a high bar for clear communication and sound engineering judgment.</li> <li>Help define how mechanical engineering is done at Besxar, including CAD conventions, design checklists, part libraries, release processes, and cross-functional review norms.</li> <li>Mentor other engineers and contribute technical leadership as the mechanical team grows.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Basic Qualifications</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a similar technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.</li> <li>5+ years of progressive mechanical design engineering experience developing complex hardware products from concept through build, integration, and test.</li> <li>Demonstrated ownership of large CAD assemblies and mechanical product development for highly integrated electromechanical, aerospace, or other high-consequence systems.</li> <li>Strong proficiency in a modern 3D CAD platform (e.g., SolidWorks, NX, Creo, CATIA, or similar) and 2D drawing creation, including BOMs, revision control, and PDM/PLM workflows.</li> <li>Strong mechanical design fundamentals, including GD&T, tolerance analysis, material and process selection, fastener and joint design, structural load paths, fits, and DFM/DFA.</li> <li>Hands-on build and assembly experience; comfortable working directly with hardware in the lab, on the floor, or with suppliers to debug interfaces, close issues, and improve designs.</li> <li>Experience designing with metallic hardware and integrating space-rated or similarly high-reliability components.</li> <li>Demonstrated ability to apply lessons learned from previous designs, build issues, and test outcomes to improve robustness, manufacturability, and development speed.</li> <li>Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to document assumptions, present at design reviews, and drive cross-functional alignment.</li> <li>Demonstrated ability to operate as a self-starter in ambiguous environments; you can define requirements, make sound tradeoffs, and deliver without heavy oversight.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Skills and Experience</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience developing spacecraft, satellite, launch, propulsion, robotics, or other hardware intended for vacuum, thermal, vibration, and shock environments.</li> <li>Experience with precision structures, mechanisms, thermal-mechanical packaging, contamination-sensitive hardware, or semiconductor/process…