Senior Mechanical Engineer, Interceptor

Who We Are GITAI is a vertically integrated space and defense company building the next generation of hardware for low-Earth-orbit missions. At our core is the space robotics technology that has defined GITAI from the beginning. A small, highly capable engineering team applies that foundation across satellite buses, in-orbit servicing robotics, and mission hardware for applications such as Earth observation. Today, a major focus of our work is supporting U.S. national security missions, particularly through proliferated LEO satellite constellations and other next-generation space systems. We design, build, integrate, and test much of our hardware in-house. Electrical, mechanical, software, manufacturing, integration, and test teams work closely together, allowing a small team to own complete systems rather than isolated components. This vertical integration helps us move quickly, learn directly from hardware, and shorten the path from architecture to a working system. We are still early. The systems, the company, and the market are all being built at the same time. Requirements change, technical problems are often ambiguous, and many answers do not yet exist. We are looking for exceptional engineers who want broad ownership, can work across disciplines, and are willing to stay close to the hardware until the mission succeeds. Your Mission Lead the mechanical development of interceptor hardware from early architecture through prototype manufacturing, integration, field testing, and redesign. You will own complex mechanical systems across vehicle structures, propulsion interfaces, avionics packaging, internal mechanisms, test hardware, and ground-support equipment. You will make critical design decisions, resolve cross-functional problems, and help the broader engineering team move faster through strong technical judgment and direct hands-on execution. This is a senior individual-contributor role. You do not need to be a people manager, but you will be expected to provide technical direction, review the work of other engineers, raise the quality of mechanical design, and step into difficult hardware problems when the team is blocked. This is not an analysis-heavy or propulsion-performance position. You will perform and review the calculations needed to support sound decisions, but the work remains grounded in hardware. Designs must be manufacturable, assemble correctly, survive their expected environment, and be ready for the next test. What You’ll Drive Own the mechanical architecture and detailed design of interceptor hardware, including primary and secondary structures, motor mounts and interfaces, avionics packaging, internal mechanisms, enclosures, test fixtures, and ground-support equipment. Translate incomplete system requirements, expected loads, environmental conditions, packaging constraints, and subsystem interfaces into practical mechanical designs and clear technical decisions. Lead hardware through the full development cycle, including CAD, drawings, design reviews, supplier coordination, fabrication, inspection, assembly, integration, testing, failure investigation, and redesign. Provide technical direction and design review to junior and mid-level engineers, improving design quality, manufacturability, documentation, and engineering judgment across the team. Work directly with machinists, technicians, suppliers, and engineers to resolve difficult manufacturing, assembly, and integration issues without relying on organizational handoffs. Plan and execute structural, environmental, propulsion-related, and vehicle-level tests, including test readiness, field operations, inspection, troubleshooting, repair, and rapid preparation for follow-on testing. Lead failure investigations, identify root causes, and drive corrective actions through analysis, physical evidence, design changes, and validation testing. Make and communicate clear tradeoffs among mass, strength, stiffness, reliability, manufacturability, cost, sche…