Job Description

Overview

This position as a Mechanical Engineer III involves working on challenging designs and advanced technologies within the Manufacturing, Packaging & Test Services Section, focusing on space flight electronics and related hardware. The role requires strong mechanical design capabilities and technical execution.

Responsibilities

  • Coordinate with product delivery leads, technical leads, proposal managers, and project management.
  • Participate in and sometimes lead design teams to develop space flight and ground support electronic hardware, subsystems, and components.
  • Generate detailed 3D CAD models, drawings, layouts, sketches, and design studies using NX or comparable tools.
  • Create and revise designs for components, subsystems, and systems to improve manufacturability, structural integrity, performance, and compliance with engineering standards.
  • Interface with packaging and manufacturing engineers, designers, analysts, machine shop, Quality Assurance, and project staff.
  • Plan and produce work instructions for fabrication and assembly of electronic packaging, cable harnesses, and mechanical assemblies.
  • Prepare for and participate in technical design reviews, including presenting design content and addressing action items.
  • Solve complex mechanical and packaging design problems, perform trade studies, and develop design requirements supporting hardware qualification and fabrication workflows.
  • Coordinate design criteria including ease of manufacture, material availability, and contractual specifications with engineering, materials, and planning groups.

Requirements

  • Advanced understanding and application of mechanical engineering principles including structures, configuration, mechanisms, structural analysis, integration, and test.
  • Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering or related technical discipline, with corresponding experience levels.
  • Strong proficiency with CAD tools such as NX or SolidWorks; experience with recent NX versions preferred.
  • Knowledge and practical application of ASME Y14.xx and Y14.5 GD&T standards.
  • Broad experience in mechanical and electronic packaging design, including printed wiring board (PWB) design, mechanical chassis, manufacturing processes, and cable harness assembly.
  • Ability to independently execute mechanical design activities, coordinate fabrication and assembly, and support hardware qualification.
  • Strong communication, organizational skills, and ability to meet deadlines in a team environment.

Benefits

  • PTO

Additional Information

  • Location: Pasadena, CA - ONSITE
  • Shift: 1st
  • 9/80 Schedule
  • This is a contract position for 2 years with the possibility of conversion to Direct HIRE.

Benefits

PTO

How this job compares in Pasadena, CA

Pay in context

At roughly $63/hr, this posting sits about 79% above the $35/hr median for welding jobs across California — toward the top of a $28–$48/hr middle band drawn from 450 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 88% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. Pay that far above local median usually comes attached to something: a harder cert requirement, travel, night shift, or overtime that isn't really optional. Worth establishing which before you accept.

The local market in Pasadena, CA

Pasadena, CA currently has 8 other active welding openings besides this one, spread across 5 employers. 7 of them were added in the last week. Across California as a whole we're tracking 586 other active welding openings from 266 employers. That's enough local activity to be worth comparing two or three offers before committing. Browse every welding job in Pasadena, or widen the search to California.

The most active employers in California at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are SpaceX (37), Relativity Space (22), and Welding Shop in Los Angeles, CA (18). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Within California, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Redondo Beach at $65/hr, Pasadena at $61/hr, and Santa Ana at $48/hr. Pasadena is among them.

Certifications this posting mentions

  • ASME Section IX — the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code qualification. It covers welding on pressure-retaining equipment — boilers, vessels, and process piping — where a failed weld is a safety incident rather than a rework ticket.

Read straight from this posting's text. Confirm the exact qualification the employer wants before you test — requirements vary by shop even under the same code.

Similar openings near Pasadena, CA

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Mechanical Engineer III - NX figures were last recalculated when this page was built.