Astrostructures Ltd
Mechanical Design Engineer
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Salary: £3,300 gross per month
Location: Fully remote but UK based
Working Hours: Full time (37.5 hrs per week)
Flexibility: Flexible hours
Contract Duration: Approximately 7 months contract with potential to turn into a permanent staff position
Mission
We are partnering with an innovative energy start-up who are revolutionising the thermal storage sector. As their thermal and mechanical engineering partner, we are delivering the engineering design that can make this happen.
With major commercial backing and a clear path to deployment, our client is moving fast. We are looking for a mechanical design engineer who wants to lead the detailed design, development, and delivery of core mechanical systems and assemblies for one of the most innovative terrestrial energy technologies in development today.
This is initially a contract role lasting approximately 7 months but with real potential to turn into a permanent staff position.
Applicants should be currently living in the UK.
Visa sponsorship is unfortunately unavailable.
Context
Astrostructures is a specialist thermal engineering consultancy primarily serving the space sector. We do however get involved in projects on earth, when the technology is novel, and primarily thermal! We help our clients design, develop, manufacture, and assemble exciting new technologies that serve humankind.
Not your average engineering role
- You will not be tweaking small parts or updating legacy drawings.
- You will own complex mechanical assemblies from initial part and assembly CAD modelling through material selection, drawing, prototyping, testing, vendor selection, and final manufacture.
- You will bridge the gap between complex conceptual layouts and the factory floor, working directly with systems engineers, analysts, and suppliers to deliver brilliantly reliable and manufacturable hardware.
- You will be involved from the very start to the very end of the project lifecycle, designing parts made from exotic materials being pushed to the very limit of their capability. This is a role for engineers who love hardware. Your designs will involve metallic structures, high temperature ceramic components, and custom thermoelastic solutions.
- You will work in a tight-knit team where your decisions directly shape the final product. We value fast design loops, practical engineering intuition, and physical prototyping.
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Key responsibilities
- Create and optimise detailed 3D CAD models of parts and assemblies
- Create production-ready 2D engineering drawings for parts made from a variety of materials using different manufacturing techniques
- Run engineering hand calculations, sanity checks, and tolerance checks
- Collaborate with international manufacturing teams to apply Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and assembly sequencing
- Oversee prototype development, test plans, and hardware qualification to validate your designs
- Develop and produce assembly and integration procedures at subsystem and system level
- Design, develop, and procure mechanical ground support equipment for lifting, handling, alignment, and transport at subsystem and system level
- Create and own the product bill of materials
- Partner with external suppliers to oversee the procurement and fabrication of conventional metallic, exotic alloy, and high-temperature components
Essential criteria
The right candidate has the following skills and qualifications:
- Mechanical engineering degree (BEng) or equivalent with merit (2:1) as a minimum
- 3-5 years experience as a mechanical design engineer
- Experience in product, system, or subsystem ownership
- Track record of designing and engineering parts and assemblies
- Experience with DFM/DFA
- Experience creating 2D manufacturing drawings for machined parts, fabricated assemblies, and sheet metal components
- Strong understanding of GD&T to create clear, manufacturable drawings
- Solid grasp of materials science, thermodynamics, and mechanical engineering concepts
- Experience creating solid parts and assemblies in SolidWorks
- Experience working in a PLM environment
- Experience writing assembly procedures and design documents
- Available immediately
Desirable criteria
The following skills and experience are a bonus but are not mandatory:
- Experience designing MGSE, jigs, fixtures, or alignment tools
- Experience with the design and manufacture of ceramic parts
- Experience designing for high temperature environments
- Experience with thermoelastic design
- Experience working with 3D Experience and SolidWorks Connected
- Space, aerospace, or defence experience is a plus
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Working culture and fit
Astrostructures is a start-up, remote-first consultancy. What that means in practice for this role:
- Authority: You will work in a close knit technical team — decisions and technical direction happen quickly and directly.
- Comfort with ambiguity: Your starting point is the drawing board. You will play an active part in closing knowledge gaps and open questions, rather than waiting for a fully resolved design spec to be handed down to you.
- Real ownership and autonomy: You are trusted to manage your own time and flag issues proactively.
- Direct communication style: The team values people who name problems and risks plainly rather than leaving them implicit or smoothing them over.
- Aerospace quality at pace: The team holds itself to a very high standard of engineering quality — at the pace of a lean, fast-moving start-up.
- Tight, small-team dynamic: Close day-to-day collaboration, not isolated handoffs.
Who would enjoy this role: engineers who enjoy precision, technical ownership, being trusted to work independently, and who are comfortable flagging problems and gaps early rather than waiting to be told.
Who might not enjoy this role: engineers who need significant structure or close supervision, prefer narrowly-scoped work with minimal ambiguity, or who are looking for the working style of a large organisation.
How to apply
Please send a CV and a small application letter tackling the following questions:
Section 1: How you meet the essential criteria
Section 2: How you meet the desirable criteria (if any)
Section 3: How you are suited to the working culture
Section 4: Any other relevant information
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview online via Teams. An initial interview will assess technical skills and another interview will assess working culture and fit.
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