Forward Deployed Mechanical Engineer

About the Role

Forward Deployed Mechanical Engineer for an AI-Powered Aerospace & Defense Engineering Company. This is a full-time, hybrid role located in Long Beach, CA, involving remote work and onsite collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform structural and dynamics work on flight hardware for paying customers.
• Translate executed workflows into requirements for the platform’s next automation capabilities.
• Solve complex mechanical hardware challenges across aerospace and defense, including structures, dynamics, loads, and mechanisms.
• Develop load cases; create, process, and interpret finite element models; establish engineering margin policies; and resolve critical flight hardware issues for customers.
• Conduct design reviews, trade studies, and test planning for structures and mechanisms.
• Turn fragmented inputs (CAD, FEA results, test data, spreadsheets, technical conversations) into clear engineering conclusions and automated workflows.
• Develop scripts and AI agent workflows that automate manual engineering checks.
• Partner with the software team to translate engineering workflows into platform features and validate them against real engineering work.
• Manage customer calls, deliverables, and project scope once fully ramped.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Master's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or a Bachelor's degree plus several years of experience in a demanding hardware environment.
• Strong engineering fundamentals in structures and dynamics.
• Hands-on FEA experience using Ansys, Abaqus, NX/Simcenter, Femap, or similar tools.
• Practical approach grounded in first principles.
• Record of successfully building hardware through professional work, laboratory projects, or competition teams (rocketry, CubeSat, Formula SAE).
• Regular use of software-driven approaches in hardware workflows, such as Python, TypeScript, Docker, or similar technologies.
• Familiarity with APIs for mechanical engineering tools.
• Active interest in AI, currently using AI agents in work and following advances in agent-enabled engineering.
• Ability to turn incomplete direction into progress, take initiative, and work effectively amid ambiguity and changing priorities.
• U.S. citizenship required.

New graduates are welcome to apply.

Aerospace or defense internships are a significant plus.

Equity is part of the opportunity.