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Principal Mechanical Engineer, Space Mechanisms

Blue Canyon Technologies
Blue Canyon Technologies Salary
Boulder, CO Full Time
POSTED ON 12/21/2025
AVAILABLE BEFORE 1/20/2026

Blue Canyon Technologies, RTX's small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider, is solving some of the toughest challenges in space. Our components and bus platforms have completed missions ranging from very-low Earth orbits to lunar and interplanetary journeys at a fraction of the cost of traditional space systems. We support premier defense, commercial and civil organizations including the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA, MIT Lincoln Lab, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Colorado and more. Join our innovative and dynamic company as we build, test and operate the small spacecraft of the future.

Position Purpose: The Principal Mechanical Engineer, Space Mechanisms will be a technical expert on the BCT Mechanical Engineering team, responsible for the design, analysis, optimization, and characterization of spacecraft hardware.  This engineer will be responsible for supporting all phases of the product lifecycle as well as internal and external spacecraft teams.  The Principal Mechanisms Engineer must be a team-oriented engineer who is excited to share skills and build knowledge with junior engineers.


Title: Principal Mechanical Engineer, Space Mechanisms

Position Type: Full Time

Pay Range: $108,000 - $220,000

(Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.)

Location: Boulder, CO


Benefits:

  • 100% company paid health, dental and vision benefits for you and your dependents effective the first of the month following hire date
  • Life insurance
  • 401k (matching 4% with a minimum 5% contribution)
  • Generous PTO (3 weeks of vacation 3 floating holidays, 2 weeks of sick time, 7 paid holidays throughout the year) and parental leave


Job Responsibilities:

  • Lead electromechanical design efforts for new spaceflight hardware, from concept to high volume production.
  • Devise incremental engineering improvements to legacy solutions. Provide technical support for existing technologies.
  • Create product requirements, detailed electromechanical designs, analytical reports, interface drawings, assembly instructions, test plans, and other documentation in collaboration with other departments.
  • Support Operations with technically sound information, in a timely manner.
  • Quantify and understand competing requirements and trades between disciplines for complex systems and mechanisms (e.g. performance power availability vs. packaging constraints vs. thermal limitations vs. manufacturability).
  • Manage electromechanical aspects of multiple complex projects simultaneously, with responsibility for meeting technical, cost, and schedule requirements.
  • Responsible for investigation, resolution, and closure for product non-conformances. Support post-delivery issues with internal teams and external customers.
  • Lead meetings and technical exchanges with internal teams and external May provide technical advice on an ad-hoc basis to management and other departments.
  • Delegate tasks as necessary and train individuals to reinforce critical engineering skills.
  • Contribute to long-term product roadmaps and business strategies.
  • May include personnel management responsibilities and other responsibilities as assigned.


Required Qualifications/Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or Aerospace Engineering with 13 years of mechanical work experience. Advanced degrees may be considered in lieu of requisite work experience.
  • Expert level experience in CAD. SolidWorks preferred.
  • Advanced mechanical analysis experience (structural, thermal, etc.). Ansys preferred.
  • Extensive knowledge of, and design experience with, motors, encoders, actuators, sensors, controls, bearings, magnets, and other electromechanical sub-systems.
  • Experience designing new and continuously improving existing products in a dynamic environment. Direct experience with typical satellite mechanisms such as reaction wheels, control moment gyroscopes, gimbals, SADAs, etc. is highly desired.
  • Able to mentor professional engineers and staff engaged in complex engineering activities.
  • Intermediate experience programming in at least one common software language (e.g., MATLAB, Python, C/C , Java, LabView.
  • Related technical experience may be considered in lieu of education.



Working Conditions:

This job operates in a professional office environment, but in a manufacturing company. This role uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, scanners, filing cabinets and fax machines.  BCT anticipates the application window closing approximately 40 days from the date the notice was posted. However, factors such as candidate flow and business necessity may require BCT to shorten or extend the application window.


Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit for long periods of time.  The employee is occasionally required to stand, bend, reach, and walk. The position requires some light physical effort. This would require the ability to lift or move objects up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift or move objects up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities are required by this job which includes close vision, distance vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.


Blue Canyon Technologies is a drug-free workplace and an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected factor. Colorado Residents:  In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation.  You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.  Blue Canyon Technologies is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Melissa Po at HR@bluecanyontech.com.


We recommend applying directly via the Blue Canyon Technologies website, careers page:  https://www.bluecanyontech.com/careers


Salary : $108,000 - $220,000

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