Exobotics
Senior Mechanical Engineer
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Senior Mechanical Engineer (Satellite Delivery)
Location: West London (Chiswick/W4)
Type: Full-time
Hybrid, based on project needs
Salary: £45,000 - £65,000 experience dependent
The Mission
Exobotics is building the next generation of satellite platforms. We are looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to own the mechanical design of our microsatellite platform and lay the groundwork for our small satellite platform.
Your mission is to take a validated platform design from concept to PDR or CDR, while building and supporting a mechanical engineering team that will grow to at least five people over the next two years.
The Challenge (Outcomes)
This is what the first 12 months looks like if you are doing this job well:
- Platform Design Validation: You lead the microsatellite platform to PDR or CDR within 12 months, with launcher compliance verified through analysis and documentation ready for submission.
- Launcher Compliance: You complete structural and dynamic simulations to launcher authority standards. Qualification evidence is documented, reviewed, and accepted without late surprises.
- Deployable Mechanisms: You progress various deployable mechanism designs (including solar arrays) to a defined maturity gate, with kinematic and dynamic deployment analyses, and interface control documents in place and reviewed.
- Documentation Quality: ICDs, drawings, BOMs, MIULs, and reports produced by your team pass customer and agency review without rework. Change control is maintained throughout.
- Payload Integration: High-precision optical and RF payloads integrate with the platform without interface surprises. Alignment, cleanliness, and structural requirements are defined and managed from the outset.
- Team Foundation: The mechanical engineering function delivers reliably, with clear ownership of work and a hiring pipeline in place to scale to five people within two years.
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Who We Are Looking For
We are less interested in your specific degree and more interested in your behaviours and track record.
- Analytical Mindset: You run the numbers before finalising a design. You know when analysis is sufficient and when a test is needed, and you document your reasoning.
- Own the Interfaces: You understand how your mechanical decisions affect the rest of the spacecraft. You engage with software, AIT, electrical, and payload teams early.
- Detail Oriented and Thorough: Drawings, ICDs, and reports from you and your team are precise, controlled, and would survive a customer audit. You consider documentation as engineering output.
- Contribute to the Team: You set the standard and then help others reach it. You review work constructively, grow capability in the people around you, and avoid becoming a bottleneck in your team.
- Raise Issues Early: If a design risk is known, it is escalated, with trade-offs presented. You do not let a concern run quietly into a programme milestone.
How We Think About AI
A significant part of satellite mechanical engineering can be accelerated with AI: drafting interface control documents, cross-checking drawings against requirements, generating analysis reports, keeping documentation current while a design is still moving. Our own pilots are already halving the time on some of our most labour-intensive work.
What AI cannot do is judge. A model will draft an ICD in minutes, but only an engineer who has designed and verified hardware can say whether the interface it describes is correct. That is the split we are after. The tools do the leg work, you do the validation, and the hours that come back go into the hard problems that need you.
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You do not need an AI background. Exposure to AI tools or agentic workflows is a plus, not a requirement. What we do need is curiosity, a willingness to experiment, and honesty about where these tools help and where they fall over. If that is already how you want to work, you will fit here.
Qualifications:
- Proven experience designing structures and mechanisms for space or high-reliability environments.
- Hands-on experience with FEA and structural or dynamic analysis to launcher requirements.
- Experience with deployable mechanisms, including deployment analysis and qualification planning.
- Familiarity with ICD authoring, drawing control, and document management to customer or agency standards.
- Experience procuring parts and managing suppliers to the right quality level.
- Eligible to work in the UK.
What We Offer
- Autonomy: We invest in our staff and give significant autonomy. We want you to own this role, not just execute orders.
- Impact: You are not a cog in a machine. You are building platforms that will fly in space.
- Culture: A collaborative, high-trust environment where performance is celebrated.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, 33 days annual leave (inc. bank holidays), professional development opportunities
- Equity: Equity may form part of future compensation. This will be discussed directly with candidates during the offer stage.
How to Apply
Send your CV to careers@exobotics.space with the subject "Application for Senior Mechanical Engineer - [Your Name]."
In your cover letter, please briefly describe a structural or mechanism design challenge you faced, how you approached it, and what the outcome was. Feel free to also mention any experience you have using AI tools in your work, or simply why you are keen to start.
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