Lead Vehicle Design Engineer

About Helogen

Helogen is building the infrastructure for the next industrial revolution: manufacturing in space. The company builds autonomous labs and platforms that enable breakthroughs in medicine, materials, therapeutics, and regenerative health that are impossible to achieve under Earth's gravity.

This is not a concept-stage space company. Helogen has already launched two satellites, won a NASA TechLeap prize for space manufacturing automation, and has eight missions planned across the next two years. Backed by RRE, Aurelia, and Mana, the 12-person team has deep pedigree from NASA, Blue Origin, MIT Lincoln Lab, ISS, and Space Force. A $20M+ Series A is underway.

Helogen is now moving from CubeSat-class systems into a next-generation 50-100kg satellite class — and this is the hire that leads that design.

The Opportunity

Helogen is looking for a Lead Vehicle Design Engineer to own the mechanical design of the next-generation vehicle from the ground up. You will design the vehicle's physical architecture — structures, mechanisms, interfaces, CAD layouts, mass budgets, subsystem packaging, and vehicle-level tradeoffs — working directly alongside systems and GNC engineers to bring the next vehicle to life.

If you have meaningfully contributed to a re-entry capsule, hypersonic vehicle, or similar flight hardware program and want to put your name on something that actually flies, this is that role.

What You'll Do

• •      Design the vehicle's physical architecture — sizing internals, defining mass budgets, shaping aerodynamic profiles, and laying out structural interfaces from concept through flight
• •      Build and own CAD models and mechanical designs for the next-generation 50-100 kg satellite platform, including primary structure, mechanisms, and subsystem integration
• •      Collaborate closely with systems engineering and GNC teams to translate top-level requirements into manufacturable, flight-ready hardware
• •      Get hands-on with everything — from fitting avionics and radios to designing solar panel deployment mechanisms — as a key contributor on a small, high-ownership team
• •      Perform engineering trades involving structures, thermal systems, avionics, flight dynamics, manufacturing, testing, and operations
• •      Lead hardware design, prototyping, integration, and qualification activities
• •      Support supplier engagement, manufacturing activities, and hardware build efforts
• •      Participate in testing, mission preparation, flight operations, and post-flight analysis
• •      Help shape engineering culture, processes, and technical standards as the organization grows

You Should Have

• •      2-5 years of experience in vehicle or spacecraft mechanical design
• •      Meaningful hands-on contribution to a re-entry capsule, hypersonic vehicle, or similar flight hardware program — you can speak to your specific technical contributions
• •      Strong CAD skills and experience owning mechanical design at the vehicle or subsystem level
• •      Experience defining mass budgets, structural interfaces, and subsystem packaging
• •      Comfort operating with high ownership on a small, fast-moving team
• •      Willingness to participate in hardware build, integration, testing, and launch campaigns including nights and weekends when it counts

Nice to Have

• •      Experience with vehicle-level architecture trades across structures, thermal, and avionics
• •      Background in spacecraft mechanisms or deployment systems
• •      Experience contributing to engineering culture, processes, or technical standards