Optomechanical Engineer

About the role

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price - and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger - helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.

The Role

K2's plan doesn't stop at satellite buses. By operating our own vehicles and manifesting regular rides to space, K2 is uniquely positioned to design, test, and deploy-at-scale ambitious optical payloads in MEO, GEO, cis-lunar, and deep space on unprecedented timelines. The satellite bus is the platform - the payloads are the mission.

You will own the design and build of the precision optomechanical structures that hold our optical payloads together in the space environment. This is a mechanically-focused role at the intersection of structures and optics: you will mount lenses and mirrors, design the structures that support them, and make sure the optical system holds its alignment through launch, thermal cycling, and on-orbit operation. You'll partner closely with optical engineers, but your center of gravity is mechanical design, structural performance, and hardware realization.

In your first 6 months, you will define optomechanical requirements, create initial concepts and trades, perform preliminary and detailed analysis, define development test campaigns, and produce development hardware. In your first year, you will validate your designs through prototype iterations and build and qualify flight hardware. In your first two years you will fly your hardware in space while directly supporting production and integration.

Responsibilities

• Design optomechanical assemblies - optical benches, mirror mounts, lens cells, and support structures - from conceptual design through qualification to on-orbit operations, in support of internal and external customer needs
• Own mounting and alignment of lenses and mirrors, selecting and designing mounting schemes (kinematic/semi-kinematic mounts, flexures, bonded interfaces) that constrain optics without over-constraining them
• Design mirror support structures with explicit attention to jitter and dynamic stability, mount-induced deformation (bonding stress, bolt preload, gravity-release), and thermal stability (CTE matching, athermalization, gradient management)
• Own optical alignment and stability budgets, translating wavefront and pointing decisions
• Lead design reviews from kickoff through qualification and beyond
• Drive hardware development, including hands-on assembly and alignment, development testing (vibration, thermal-vac, modal), analysis correlation, and follow-on hardware iterations
• Perform hardware trades that steer both sub-system and top-level product direction
• Collaborate with a cross-functional team - optical, thermal, structures, GNC, metrology, and manufacturing - to establish product requirements, company processes, and best practices for optomechanical design and manufacturing
• Continually own and refine system deliverables and associated schedules throughout development and production

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, optical, or other relevant engineering discipline
• 2+ years of experience in mechanical or optomechanical design and analysis, with a mechanics-heavy background
• Proficiency with 3D CAD software for detailed part and assembly design
• Hands-on experience mounting optics (lenses and mirrors) and designing the structures that support them

Nice to Have

• Proficiency with Siemens NX CAD
• Familiarity with STOP (Structural-Thermal-Optical Performance) analysis and closing pointing/wavefront error budgets across mechanical, thermal, and optical domains
• Experience designing, building, and testing precision optomechanical or opto-structural hardware for aerospace applications (satellite payloads, telescopes, imagers, or optical instruments)
• Experience with flexure design, optical bonding, and kinematic mount design for space environments
• Demonstrated ability to own optomechanical hardware or systems within an integrated engineering team outside a classroom setting
• Demonstrated understanding of structural analysis and failure modes of complex mechanical systems in space environments and operations
• Demonstrated experience designing structures for optical stability, accounting for jitter, mounting deformation, and thermal effects
• Experience with FEA for structural, modal, and thermal-elastic analysis
• Experience with the practical application of GD&T, including tolerancing of precision optical interfaces
• Demonstrated proficiency in the principles of mechanical design, materials, and structural dynamics
• Demonstrated ability to personally design, build, align, and test hardware from a blank canvas, including troubleshooting and iterating designs based on downstream feedback

Compensation and Benefits

• Base salary range for this role is $120,000 - $210,000 + equity in the company
• Salary and level will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

If you don't meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, "U.S. Persons" include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a "U.S. Person."

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a "U.S. person" as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.