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Job Description

Overview

Reflect Orbital is seeking a hands-on Mechanical Engineer to design, build, test, and integrate mechanical systems for spacecraft reflector deployment, contributing to the vision of bringing sunlight back to Earth from space.

Responsibilities

  • Design, build, test, and integrate mechanical systems for reflector deployment.
  • Own critical hardware from concept to flight-ready delivery.
  • Work on deployable structures, hinges, actuators, and precision assemblies.

Requirements

  • Strong 3D CAD skills (SolidWorks, CATIA, Siemens NX, Creo, or similar).
  • Experience designing complex mechanical mechanisms or deployable structures.
  • Hands-on experience with prototyping, testing, manufacturing, and integration.
  • Knowledge of structural design, materials, tolerances, and mechanical reliability.
  • Aerospace, spacecraft, robotics, automation, or advanced manufacturing experience is a major plus.

Additional Information

  • Location: Hawthorne, California | Fully Onsite
  • Relocation Assistance Available: $5K–$10K

Employment Type

Full-time

Compensation

  • Wage: $90K–$180K/year
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How this job compares in Hawthorne, CA

Pay in context

At roughly $65/hr, this posting sits about 109% above the $31/hr median for welding jobs in Hawthorne, CA — toward the top of a $31–$58/hr middle band drawn from 42 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 Hawthorne, CA

We're tracking 46 other active welding openings in Hawthorne, CA right now, from 4 different employers. 13 of them were added in the last week. Across California as a whole we're tracking 505 other active welding openings from 239 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in Hawthorne, 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 (18), and Welding Shop in Los Angeles, CA (13). 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 El Segundo at $53/hr, Los Angeles at $51/hr, and Pasadena at $50/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

Similar openings near Hawthorne, 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 figures were last recalculated when this page was built.