Mechanical Engineer, Satellite Hardware

Amazon Leo is Amazon"s low Earth orbit satellite network. Our mission is to deliver fast, reliable internet connectivity to customers beyond the reach of existing networks. From individual households to schools, hospitals, businesses, and government agencies, Amazon Leo will serve people and organizations operating in locations without reliable connectivity.

The Leo Mechanical Engineering organization is looking for early-career mechanical engineers who want to design, build, test, and deliver hardware for a large-scale satellite constellation.

Our mechanical engineering teams own hardware across the spacecraft lifecycle, from early concepts and architecture through detailed design, analysis, prototyping, qualification, manufacturing, and flight. Engineers work directly with hardware and collaborate across electrical, thermal, RF, reliability, manufacturing, software, and operations teams to solve multidisciplinary engineering problems.

This role is intended for engineers early in their careers who have a strong foundation in mechanical engineering fundamentals, are curious about how things work, and want to develop broad spacecraft hardware experience. Depending on background, interests, and business needs, engineers may work in spacecraft structures, avionics packaging, harnessing, solar arrays, mechanisms, test development, or manufacturing process development.

Export Control Requirement: Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Key job responsibilities

• Design mechanical hardware, assemblies, fixtures, or test equipment using engineering fundamentals and sound design practices.
• Create and release 3D models, drawings, specifications, and other engineering documentation.
• Perform engineering analysis and calculations to support design decisions and verify performance.
• Work directly with technicians, machinists, manufacturing engineers, suppliers, and other partners to build and evaluate hardware.
• Develop and execute engineering tests to characterize hardware, validate designs, and investigate failures.
• Participate in design reviews and communicate technical decisions, risks, and tradeoffs to multidisciplinary teams.
• Apply Design for Manufacturing and Assembly principles to improve hardware manufacturability, reliability, cost, and production scalability.
• Troubleshoot hardware issues using data, testing, and first-principles engineering.
• Support hardware from early prototype development through qualification, production, and flight.
• Develop increasing technical ownership of hardware and engineering decisions as experience grows.

A day in the life

There is no single typical day for a mechanical engineer on the team. You might begin the morning reviewing test data from hardware tested overnight, then update a CAD model based on what you learned. Later, you could work alongside a technician assembling a prototype, perform a hand calculation or finite element analysis to evaluate a design change, or meet with electrical and thermal engineers to resolve competing packaging requirements.

You may spend the afternoon in the lab troubleshooting hardware, preparing for a design review, working with a supplier on a manufacturing issue, or developing a fixture to test a new design.

Our engineers are expected to move comfortably between analysis, design, hardware, and data. The goal is not simply to produce drawings or calculations, but to understand the hardware, make sound engineering decisions, and help carry those decisions through to a successful product.

About the team

The Leo Mechanical Engineering organization designs, develops, tests, and industrializes the hardware that enables our satellite constellation. Our teams span spacecraft structures and integration, avionics packaging, harnessing, solar arrays, mechanisms, test development, and manufacturing process development. Engineers work across disciplines and throughout the full product lifecycle, from early concepts and prototypes through qualification, production, launch, and on-orbit operation. We combine deep technical expertise with strong hardware ownership and rapid iteration, giving engineers the opportunity to solve challenging multidisciplinary problems while seeing their designs progress from an idea to flight hardware.