---
title: 'Engineering Co-op at Salient Motion'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-co-op-salient-motion-hawthorne-5rzzp0jrk03p'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-13'
---

# Engineering Co-op at Salient Motion

- **Company:** Salient Motion
- **Location:** Hawthorne, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-10-10
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-13
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/salientmotion/jobs/5449549008

## Job description

Engineering Co-op

## About Us

Salient Motion is building a modular motion and actuation platform that is redefining how aerospace, defense, and industrial systems are designed, built, and deployed. We move fast, operate with high ownership, and expect real contribution from every member of the team. Co-ops are treated like engineers, not observers. You will own real work, ship to production hardware, and leave with a body of work you can point to.

## Role Overview

As an Engineering Co-op, you will embed with our engineering team across mechanical, electrical, software, manufacturing, and systems-level work for six months or longer. Unlike a short summer internship, this role is designed for students who want to take a project from specification through qualification, see a full product cycle, and operate as a contributing member of the team.

This is a hands-on role in a fast-paced startup environment. You will be expected to ramp quickly, take ownership of a defined workstream, and ship work that goes into customer programs.

## What You Will Do

- Own a scoped engineering workstream from design through test and release, with support from a senior engineer
- Design, build, and test electro-mechanical systems and subassemblies on active customer programs
- Build, maintain and improve test fixtures, data collection infrastructures
- Firmware bring-up, design validation tests for electronics boards
- Lead prototyping, assembly, and hands-on lab and shop work
- Plan and execute engineering tests, collect data, and present results to the team
- Drive manufacturing and supplier activities including part preparation, first-article inspection, and validation
- Build and improve engineering and documentation processes that outlast your co-op term
- Partner with senior engineers and program leaders, and present progress in design and program reviews

## What We Are Looking For

- Enrolled in a Bachelor's or Master's program in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field, with the ability to commit to a minimum 6-month co-op rotation
- Available for a full-time term, whether a full academic semester, summer plus a connecting semester, or two consecutive semesters
- Strong curiosity and willingness to work across disciplines
- Comfortable in a lab or shop environment with hardware and tools
- Clear communicator who can document work, present results, and ask thoughtful questions
- Prior hands-on experience through projects, labs, clubs, personal builds, or a previous internship or co-op is a strong plus

## What You Will Gain

- Ownership of real production-bound hardware over a long enough window to see it ship
- Exposure to aerospace and defense engineering standards and practices through a full program cycle
- Mentorship from experienced engineers and direct access to founders and program leadership
- A portfolio of shipped work and a reference from a startup that moved on your contributions
- Co-ops completing 9+ months in good standing are evaluated for a full-time return offer at graduation

Co-op Details

- Full-time, paid co-op, with pay tiered by commitment length:
- 6-month rotation: $28 to $34/hr
- 9 to 12 month rotation: $34 to $40/hr
- Minimum 6-month commitment; 9 to 12 month rotations preferred
- Start dates flexible to align with your school's co-op calendar. Common cadences include January to June, July to December, and July to June for full-year rotations
- Onsite in Torrance, CA; relocation support includes a $1,200/month housing stipend for students relocating more than 50 miles

## About Salient Motion

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Salient Motion designs and manufactures critical electromechanical actuation systems for commercial aviation and defense, replacing legacy supply chains with modular, software-defined motion control.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: Torrance, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Vishaal Mali (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing, Defense
- **Target Customers**: OEMs (e.g., Boeing), MROs, and defense contractors for commercial airliners and military platforms (B2B, Enterprise)
- **Mission**: To change the paradigm of legacy aerospace and defense supply chains, unlocking a new era of speed, innovation, and possibility.

## Products & Services
- **Critical Actuation Systems**: Advanced electromechanical actuators (linear and rotary) for flight control, landing gear, and other mission-critical functions on commercial and military aircraft.
- **Software-First Architecture**: A modular, software-defined actuation platform that decouples control logic from hardware. Core motor control software is certified to DO-178C standards as a reusable library, enabling rapid configuration and validation across platforms.
- **Certification Services**: Certification-centric engineering built from day one, aiming for up to 10x reductions in cost and lead time for certifiable products.
- **Support & Sustainment**: Direct, fast, and personal support for integration, troubleshooting, and sustainment of actuation systems.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of **$4.0M** (Seed round led by Cantos VC in October 2024, with participation from AE Ventures and Ian Rountree; a Pre-Seed round occurred in November 2022)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Cantos (Lead), AE Ventures, Ian Rountree. Key customer/partner: **Boeing** (collaborating on certifying modular actuators for commercial airliners).
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount of ~30 employees with +15.2% monthly growth; talent sourced from Anduril Industries, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, and other top aerospace/defense firms; active job postings increasing +200% month-over-month; expansion to a second office in Irvine, CA.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Software-First Modularity**: Their core differentiator is a software-defined architecture that is certified as a reusable library (DO-178C). This allows for rapid, low-cost configuration for different aircraft platforms, offering a 10x improvement in lead time and cost over legacy suppliers.
- **Vertically Integrated Supply Chain**: Streamlined engineering workflows and vertically integrated partnerships enable delivery of actuator systems in weeks, not quarters.
- **Certification-First Approach**: All systems are designed with certification in mind from day one, drastically reducing the time and cost to achieve airworthiness.
- **Legacy Disruption**: They offer a direct alternative to high-cost, slow-moving legacy OEM suppliers, providing certified solutions without overhead markup.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale Production**: Moving from design and prototyping to manufacturing and delivery at scale, as evidenced by hiring for Senior Manufacturing Engineer and Quality Manager roles.
- **Expand Customer Base**: Deepening the partnership with Boeing while expanding to other commercial and defense OEMs.
- **Domestic Supply Chain**: Developing motors and inverters using domestic resources to meet national security imperatives.
- **Platform Development**: Refining their core "electric motion operating system," including standalone inverters, web-based configuration platforms, and performant motors.

## Why Work Here
- **High-Impact Work**: Employees solve some of the hardest motion control challenges in aerospace and defense, with work that directly impacts millions of daily passengers.
- **Culture**: Described as a high-velocity environment emphasizing "Extreme Entrepreneurship," "Execution Over Excuses," and "Mastery Over Ego." The culture values ownership, creativity, and a relentless focus on execution.
- **Strong Talent Pool**: Team includes veterans from Anduril, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX, providing a steep learning curve and high-performance peer group.
- **Work Policy**: **In-Office** (Torrance, CA and Irvine, CA). The company explicitly values in-person collaboration.
- **Growth Trajectory**: Early-stage (Seed) with rapid headcount growth, offering significant upside and career acceleration for early employees.

## Sources
1. [salientmotion.com](https://salientmotion.com/)
2. [salientmotion.com](https://salientmotion.com/careers)
3. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/salient-motion)
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/salient-motion)

## Other roles at Salient Motion

- [CMM Operator - Quality Inspection](https://feeny.ai/job/cmm-operator-quality-inspection-salient-motion-saginaw-3zqnv0237amp) — Saginaw, MI
- [Senior Power Electronics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-power-electronics-engineer-salient-motion-hawthorne-4yn1dr63rg99) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Senior Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-salient-motion-hawthorne-knkd3cv93mx2) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Mechanical Test Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-test-engineer-salient-motion-hawthorne-vkjdcwzj525z) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-salient-motion-hawthorne-05jbnk1ckz9w) — Hawthorne, CA
- [People Operations Generalist](https://feeny.ai/job/people-operations-generalist-salient-motion-hawthorne-21ejkdqd2ggd) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-salient-motion-hawthorne-ne6rfv91cwrf) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Global Supply Chain Manager- Electronics](https://feeny.ai/job/global-supply-chain-manager-electronics-salient-motion-hawthorne-gcm3vx04a36d) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Global Supply Chain Manager, Mechanical](https://feeny.ai/job/global-supply-chain-manager-mechanical-salient-motion-hawthorne-62aw33agrcak) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-salient-motion-saginaw-xes3gtct2jz4) — Saginaw, MI