About Cascade Space
Curious how we actually work day to day? Check out our How We Work page.
Cascade Space is building ground-based physical infrastructure and software tools to support customer spacecraft exploring the moon and beyond. Last year, we raised a seed round and are excited to make our first mechanical engineering hire!
For our planned global network of ground stations, instead of building single large dishes, we are building arrays of dishes that are combined with a digital beamformer into one large aperture, comparable to a NASA Deep Space Network 34 meter dish. Each array is ultimately a physical object with unique and challenging constraints — this is where you come in.
The Role
We are looking for a teammate who is excited to be a part of a tiny startup and help make stuff that talks to the moon.
You will have the opportunity to help build out the team, shape the cultural and engineering norms, and own a large part of our early success. As we grow, so do you: whether that means becoming an increasingly senior individual contributor and leveling up your craft, or leading the mechanical team you help build, the path is yours to choose.
While some of what makes the array possible is owned by dark wizards practicing arcane magic (RF and DSP engineers), the array is ultimately a physical object with unique and challenging constraints that must be met to enable the performance we need. This is where you come in.
You will own the mechanical integration of vendor-supplied dish systems with Cascade's in-house RF hardware: feeds (the horn/receiver assembly at the dish's focal point), low-noise and high-power amplifiers, and associated electronics. You'll design mechanically stable, environmentally robust packaging for sensitive, ultra-low noise RF systems that need to survive harsh environmental conditions, and develop thermal management strategies.
You'll define the alignment strategies and tolerances that make or break array performance, and evaluate structural and environmental effects on our systems. You'll work closely with our RF and software teams to support calibration infrastructure, and develop the environmental, integration, lifecycle, and field test plans that prove it all works long-term. And when it's time to stand up our first array, you'll be on-site helping deploy, install, and commission it.
This role spans the full arc between on-screen design to in-field deployment. You'll not only design the hardware, but install it in the field and validate the system.
This is a full-time position and it is expected to be in-office four days per week with one day flexible for in-office or remote work. Our office, located in San Francisco (Soma), is three blocks from BART, filled with natural light and has a lovely roof deck.
Required Qualifications
If you don't tick every single one of these boxes, we encourage you to apply anyway, we have a soft spot for people with non-traditional backgrounds and career trajectories.
- BS or MS in mechanical engineering (or equivalent experience)
- 4+ years of experience designing and deploying complex hardware systems
- Experience integrating electronics into outdoor or environmentally exposed systems
- Demonstrated experience with thermal management of sensitive electronics
- Experience designing precision mechanical assemblies where alignment and structural stability are critical
- Proficiency in 3D CAD and familiarity with structural (eg FEA) and/or thermal analysis tools
- Experience owning vendor relationships with fabrication shops or contract manufacturers
- Willingness to travel for field deployment and testing
- Experience with environmental qualification and lifecycle testing
- Ability to lift 25lbs
Bonus Qualifications
- Experience with antenna systems, RF hardware, radar, satellite communications, or radio astronomy systems
- Familiarity with grounding, lightning protection, and outdoor telecom infrastructure
- Experience supporting installation or commissioning of large field-deployed systems
- Forklift (telehandler) certified
- Experience in early-stage startups or small, high-ownership engineering teams
Compensation & Benefits
- $150k - $190k base salary + generous equity
- Flexible PTO: we encourage our team to actually take the time they need for a healthy work-life balance
- Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
- Lunch & dinner (optional) provided daily
- We take coffee seriously (tea drinkers welcome too)
- 401k
US Person Requirement
The day to day duties of this role do not involve ITAR or EAR materials, however many of our potential customers have designs and information that are restricted. Therefore, this role may be filled only by "U.S. Persons."
A "U.S. Person" is defined as a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident (green-card holder), or an individual who has been granted asylum or refugee status. Candidates who cannot satisfy this requirement unfortunately cannot be considered for employment at Cascade Space at this time.
