Mechanical Engineer at Hydrosat in Carlsbad, CA

Hydrosat is a space and data analytics company building a new Earth observation constellation and software platform to unlock the power of thermal infrared imagery. Our mission is to deliver high-resolution thermal insights that help governments, defense agencies, agribusinesses, and other decision-makers better manage water, agriculture, climate resilience, and critical infrastructure.

With operations in the United States and Luxembourg, Hydrosat combines cutting-edge satellite technology, geospatial analytics, and applied science to turn raw Earth observation data into actionable intelligence. Our U.S. team plays a central role in government and defense market development, commercial growth, and delivering scalable solutions for federal, civil, and commercial customers. We are looking for bright, ambitious, and collaborative people who want to help transform how space-based data is used in the real world.

Hydrosat is seeking a seasoned Mechanical Engineer to join our hardware development team. This role focuses on the design, analysis, build, and test of mechanical systems for space-based payloads and other flight hardware, with a strong emphasis towards on-orbit thermal performance. The ideal candidate will have deep experience in mechanical design for space applications, practical capability with on-orbit thermal analysis, and a passion for taking hardware from concept through fabrication, assembly, and flight qualification.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and refine mechanical requirements for space payloads and flight hardware

• Lead mechanical design effort and use thermal analysis to guide material selection, interfaces, and thermal control design

• Develop and maintain on-orbit thermal models, assess hot and cold mission cases, and define thermal control features and operating limits

• Perform hands-on prototype fabrication, assembly, integration, and testing of flight hardware

• Collaborate with systems, electrical, optical, and spacecraft engineering teams to ensure integrated design performance

• Prepare mechanical drawings and manage configuration control of released designs

• Conduct trade studies and present design review materials to internal and external stakeholders

• Plan and conduct environmental testing, correlate thermal models with test data, and support transition to manufacturing