---
title: 'Mechanical Engineer- Fleet Operations & Reliability at Northwood Space'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-fleet-operations-reliability-northwood-space-torrance-rjgdgad3sw8f'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Mechanical Engineer- Fleet Operations & Reliability at Northwood Space

- **Company:** Northwood Space
- **Location:** Torrance, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-07-29
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/northwoodspace/072164c0-2f23-46a8-8317-a6c820d11f7a

## Job description

Northwood is a modern space infrastructure company bringing the benefits of space to the masses through advanced communications technology. We are building a global network of phased array ground stations that enable real-time, reliable communication for satellite missions such as national security, global connectivity, and disaster response. With a vertically integrated approach, Northwood designs, builds, and rapidly deploys scalable systems that power the next generation of space missions. If you like solving complex challenges and seeing your work deployed around the world with real impact, Northwood is the place to do it.

Role: Northwood is building a global network of next-generation ground stations, and we're looking for a Fleet Operations & Reliability Engineer who is equal parts technical expert, field operator, and builder. You will be the first line of defense for all operations on our network - the extreme owner of uptime and performance for our deployed hardware worldwide. Your work will span most technical disciplines at the company giving you broad technical exposure across the stack, and will require you to build consensus across multiple teams.

Day-to-day, you'll move between operating our hardware - interpreting live telemetry, driving incident response, analyzing performance data - and leading field campaigns to deploy, diagnose, and upgrade hardware at remote sites. As you build deep knowledge of our systems, you'll be positioned to drive scalable, automated monitoring and response systems.

This position is based at our Los Angeles headquarters with frequent opportunities to travel to sites.

Responsibilities:

- Own fleet uptime and performance. Deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot a growing network of antennas distributed across the globe. Write your own analyses to dig into performance trends and uptime data.
- Operate and grow our Network Operations Center. Monitor site health, interpret telemetry, send commands and configurations, and drive rapid detection and response for any site or hardware issue. Build the systems that enable response at scale.
- Support the rapid expansion of the network by leading hardware deployment campaigns at remote sites around the world. Act as the on-site conductor and POC for hardware deployments and site checkouts. Owning the process from pre-deploy through first contact. Lead from the front in the field.
- Investigate and troubleshoot, then close the loop. Drive root cause analysis on failures and implement fixes that reduce future recurrence. Develop deep expertise in at least one major subsystem — RF, power, networking, or mechanical.
- Scale our global contractor ecosystem. Source, contract, and onboard regional partners across domestic and international sites — including maintenance agreements, SLAs, onboarding guides, and ongoing task coordination. Define maintenance and sparing strategies.
- Partner closely with product, manufacturing, and test teams to influence designs with a focus on system reliability, maintainability, and long-term lifecycle performance.

Basic Qualifications:

- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace, or related engineering discipline
- Experience building, testing, operating, or diagnosing complex electrical or mechanical systems

Preferred Qualifications:

- Ability to work across multiple engineering disciplines and diverse teams
- Experience operating hardware systems in a live environment — interpreting telemetry, sending commands, and troubleshooting in real time
- Prior experience managing field operations, contractors, or vendor relationships across multiple sites
- Extreme organization, with strong project management and communication skills
- Hands-on field experience with proficiency using hand and power tools, test equipment, and standard field diagnostics
- Comfort writing and running code (e.g., Python, SQL, or other scripting languages)
- Proficiency in 2D or 3D CAD for modeling and/or drawing creation
- Willingness to travel to domestic and international ground station sites as required
- Bonus: Prior experience in failure analysis, product engineering, quality, or service in consumer electronics or automotive

Additional Requirements:

- Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed

Additional Information: If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Northwood Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

## About Northwood Space

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Building a global ground network for the future of space communications — delivering vertically integrated hardware, software, and shared infrastructure that lets space missions go from concept to live data delivery in months instead of years.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, raised $100M in January 2026)
- **Headquarters**: Los Angeles, California, United States (additional offices in Torrance, CA; Washington, D.C.; with presence in the United Kingdom and India)
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Bridgit Mendler (CEO, Cofounder), Griffin Cleverly (Co-Founder, CTO), Shaurya Luthra (Co-Founder, Head of Digital)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Defense and Space Manufacturing; Space-to-ground infrastructure; Satellite communications.
- **Target customers**: B2B and B2G — commercial satellite operators, government agencies (e.g., U.S. Space Force), and defense customers.
- **Mission**: “Take space missions further, faster” by building resilient, cloud-like ground infrastructure for the next century of space operations.

## Products & Services
- **Hardware (Antennas built for scale)** : Phased-array antenna systems designed for volume manufacturing and rapid deployment (hours, not months).
- **Network (Shared infrastructure)** : A horizontally scalable, dynamic capacity provisioning network that eliminates single points of failure and works across multiple orbits and frequency bands.
- **Software (Orchestration intelligence)** : The intelligence layer that schedules contacts, routes data, and manages the entire ground network — enabling on-demand capacity without traditional procurement cycles.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised — **$136.4M** across four rounds (Grant $100K in 2023, Seed $6.3M in 2024, Series A $30M in 2025, Series B $100M in 2026).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz (led Seed, Series A, and Series B), Founders Fund (Seed), Washington Harbour Partners (led Series B and a prior round). Strategic partners include government agencies and commercial launch providers.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew **117.6% YoY** to 65 employees (as of mid-2026).
  - 48 active job postings (+140% YoY increase).
  - Successfully tested next-generation phased array antennas.
  - Won a U.S. Space Force contract (mentioned in news snippets).
  - Expanded to three U.S. offices and international presence (UK, India).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Vertically integrated ground stack** — from antenna hardware to network orchestration software — collapses deployment timelines from years to months/days.
- **Hardware that deploys in hours** and scales like cloud computing, avoiding traditional multi-year procurement cycles.
- **Resilient, shared infrastructure** designed for multiple orbits and frequency bands, reducing single points of failure.
- **Strong talent pipeline** from SpaceX, Anduril, Tesla, Palantir, and other top aerospace/defense firms.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale the global ground network** by deploying more sites and increasing capacity for both government and commercial customers.
- **Volume manufacturing** of antenna systems to meet surging demand.
- **Deepen partnerships** with defense and intelligence agencies (National Security Space) and commercial satellite operators.
- **Continue hiring aggressively** across engineering, operations, site management, and business development.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Values include humility, bias to action, autonomy, and exceptionalism. Teams are trusted to own their work and make decisions.
- **Impact**: Work is deployed globally — antennas built in Torrance, software orchestrated from LA, sites stood up worldwide.
- **Benefits**: Competitive salary, meaningful equity, comprehensive medical/dental/vision, employer-sponsored 401(k), paid parental leave, commuter benefits, sponsored clubs and quarterly events.
- **Work Model**: Likely on-site for hardware roles (Torrance, El Segundo, Washington D.C.); some software roles may offer flexibility. Two main office hubs: Los Angeles (HQ) and Washington D.C.
- **Engineering culture**: Fast iteration, real-world deployment, cross-functional collaboration. “If you like building quickly and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe, we want you at Northwood.”

## Sources
1. [northwoodspace.io](https://www.northwoodspace.io/)
2. [northwoodspace.io/about-us](https://www.northwoodspace.io/about-us)
3. [northwoodspace.io/careers](https://www.northwoodspace.io/careers)
4. [LinkedIn – Northwood](https://www.linkedin.com/company/northwood-space)
5. [Crunchbase – Northwood Space](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/northwood-space)

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