Mechanical Design Engineer

Role: Mechanial Design Engineer

Salary: £40k to £60k per annum Dependent on experience

Location: Onsite in Forres

My client is looking for Mechanical Design Engineers to take part in the design and development of mechanical and structural components for the a Prime launch vehicle and its supporting ground segment equipment, as a senior engineer you will have significant responsibility for the technical delivery of your work streams, supporting more junior engineers and playing a key, decision making role in our technical development.

The Client

My client is a leading micro-launch company with our Prime vehicle being prepared to launch from our home spaceport, Space Hub Sutherland. We are well placed to be one of the first operational micro-launch companies in Europe with over £103m of project financing secured, a number of customers signed up, our launch licence application submitted, and backing from organisations including UKSA and ESA.

We are a rapidly growing company with staff located between our production and test facilities in Forres, Scotland and Copenhagen, Denmark. Working on cutting-edge advances in rocket fuel technology, Prime's carbon footprint is up to 96% lower than comparable vehicles, leading to innovations in propulsion and tank structures. A state-of-the-art re-flight system means we can recover and reuse our technology, and innovations in separation mechanisms mean we leave no debris in space.

Having developed in-house production capability, we can 3D print complex engines, produce full-scale carbon composite fuel tanks, and have avionics and software testing labs in both Scotland and Denmark. Based in Forres, you will be right in the heart of this fast-paced cutting-edge company, gaining a unique insight into what it takes to build a new launch vehicle for a buoyant commercial market.

The Position

You will be working primarily on design tasks for metallic and carbon fibre composite components from concept, through preliminary design and GD&T. You will work alongside our expert designers, analysts, manufacturing engineers and production team to deliver complete, flight-qualified components, all manufactured, tested and integrated in-house.

The position includes the following tasks and responsibilities:

• Design structural and mechanical components and assemblies of both the launch vehicle and its supporting ground segment equipment, including assembly and test fixtures. You will be doing detailed designs across a range of work packages, from the detailed design of bolts and fasteners to more complex primary and secondary flight structures.
• Provide hands-on engineering support to hardware prototype development and test
• Managing multiple tasks and work packages in parallel with changeable priorities
• Support and collaborate with analysis and manufacturing across the product development life cycle, owing products through an iterative design process.
• Although an appreciation of analysis and its underpinning principles would be beneficial, this role is focused on design

Key Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor or Master's degree in an Aerospace/Mechanical or another related engineering fields.
• Proven track record for delivery spanning the whole development life cycle including, requirements capture, concept, detail design, design for manufacture (DFM), production and verification
• Proficient in the use of CAD (SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, NX) and in the generation of technical and production drawings in accordance with relevant standards

Essential Experience:

• At least 6 + years' experience in engineering design, ideally of high-performance or flight-critical components
• Demonstrated experience across the full life cycle of mechanical engineering developments
• Working knowledge of aerospace and industrial engineering materials and their properties
• Significant experience of design and related tools, with the ability to run CAD but also to understand the underpinning maths
• Solid understanding and application of GD&T
• Appreciation of composite materials and their associated manufacturing processes

Desirable Experience:

• Understanding of kinematics and derived tolerance specification
• Familiarity with metallurgy, material selection and material coatings for space applications
• Familiarity with spacecraft structural loads (quasi-static loads, random vibration, shock, thermo-mechanical)
• Working knowledge of structural sizing approaches by hand calculation and/or FEA
• Experience with mechanical and materials testing
• Experience with cryogenic fluids
• Familiarity with industry standards and references (eg MIL-HDBK-5/17, ECSS-E-HB-32, NASA-STD-5001, GSFC-STD-7000)
• Knowledge of mechanical components (eg bearings, shafts, transmissions, sealings)
• Proactive problem-solving skills such as failure analysis and root cause investigation

Personality

My client is a high-paced, startup culture where you will be encouraged to take assume responsibility for tasks and see them through.
It is imperative that you take initiative, communicate openly and can collaborate with technical and non technical team members.

Typically you will:

• Be proactive and strong team player with excellent communication skills able to communicate with multi-disciplined and international teams
• Have engineering intuition with an ability to recognise factors that are driving the performance of a design
• Have organisation skills, adaptable, and able to work under pressure to tight timescales across multiple concurrent workstreams