---
title: 'Principal Mechanical Engineer at Salient Motion'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-mechanical-engineer-salient-motion-torrance-x2ke3er88hbd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Principal Mechanical Engineer at Salient Motion

- **Company:** Salient Motion
- **Location:** Torrance, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-06-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/salientmotion/jobs/5276035008

## Job description

**Applicants must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) to meet customer and regulatory requirements**

## Who We Are

We are pioneering modular motion technologies to power the next generation of innovation for Industrial, Aerospace and Defense. If you're excited about disrupting legacy industries, and passionate about building the financial infrastructure behind cutting-edge hardware, let's chat!

We are at the forefront of innovation, crafting exclusive motion control components that propel the industrial, aerospace, and defense sectors into the future.

A couple other things:

- We offer a lot of autonomy
- We like to run lean for impact
- We have great benefits
- We are well funded, and already generating revenue
- We're currently in Torrance, CA, but will be moving into a new facility in Hawthorne, CA in the summer!

What you'll do:

We are seeking a versatile, high-impact Principal Engineer to lead the development of mission-critical hardware. This is a "full-lifecycle" role where you will own everything from the initial conversion of ambiguous concepts into rigorous requirements to the hands-on assembly and environmental qualification of flight hardware. You will also review and advise across mechanical programs, contribute to proposals, and serve as a senior technical resource for our growing team.

- Requirements Architecture: Translate high-level, ambiguous mission needs into actionable functional and operational requirements for complex electromechanical systems, including spacecraft structures, docking and release mechanisms, robotic arm systems, and military-grade ground support hardware.
- Precision Mechanism Design: Design and iterate on electromagnetic actuators and intricate mechanisms, integrating components such as precision gears, bearings, lead screws, braking systems, and encoders. Experience with launch restraints, sample handling mechanisms, optomechanical assemblies, and custom actuator builds is especially relevant.
- Ruggedized Avionics: Develop high-performance avionics enclosures, focusing on innovative thermal management (heat rejection) and structural survivability in extreme, high-vibration, or vacuum environments, including lunar and planetary surface conditions.
- Environmental Qualification: Architect the test equipment and methodologies required for formal hardware qualification, ensuring total compliance with DO-160 and MIL-STD-810 standards.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Act as a technical anchor across the organization, guiding integration efforts, supporting multidisciplinary teams through complex system testing, and authoring test plans, procedures, proposals, and associated program documentation.
- Supply Chain & Quality Advocacy: Partner closely with external suppliers to ensure the delivery of conforming hardware; proactively manage manufacturing deviations to maintain rigorous quality and schedule standards.
- Hands-on Execution: Maintain a "design-build-test" mindset, taking personal responsibility for the assembly, bring-up, and debugging of your own hardware prototypes.

What you need:

- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline; advanced degrees (M.S. or above) a plus.
- Experience: 10+ years of experience through the full product lifecycle—from initial ideation and prototyping to flight-qualified production hardware. Experience with JPL, NASA, or DoD programs is highly valued.
- Technical Expertise: A deep intuition for electromagnetic principles and a mastery of mechanical load paths and load cases. Hands-on familiarity with robotic systems, kinematic mechanisms, and FEA/CFD analysis tools is a strong advantage.
- Analysis & Simulation: Proficiency in sizing analysis for strength, fatigue, and life cycles of actuator components (gears, shafts, housings).
- CAD Mastery: Advanced design experience in SolidWorks (or equivalent 3D modeling packages, including SolidWorks, Creo, and Inventor), including complex assemblies, PDM/MBD workflows, and configuration management.
- Manufacturing & GD&T: Fluency in ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards; ability to produce high-quality 2D drawings and collaborate with vendors to solve DFM (Design for Manufacturing) hurdles.
- Standards & Qualification: Proven track record of qualifying hardware against rigorous aerospace or military standards (DO-160, MIL-STD-810).
- Grit: A "builder" mindset—you are as comfortable at a computer as you are in the lab spinning wrenches and debugging your own hardware.

Nice to have:

- Qualification: Experience designing custom test equipment (including GSE for robotic or flight systems), writing formal test plans and procedures, and executing complex qualification campaigns.
- Gearbox Specialization: Detailed knowledge of AGMA Standards, gearbox design analysis (ratios, backlash, lubrication), and precision fabrication methods including injection molding and machine shop capability.
- Process Versatility: Experience navigating both high-compliance aerospace/DoD programs and fast-paced, lean R&D environments—including optomechanical systems, robotic platforms, and cross-industry hardware such as animatronics or special-purpose machinery.

What we have to offer:

We are not just building components. We are reshaping the future of the Aerospace and Defense component industry, which is a $300B+ market! Come join us and help build next generation systems that will make a massive impact at global scale.

- Competitive compensation: $200,000 to $230,000 base salary + equity
- Exceptional healthcare benefits — Medical is 100% covered by the company
- Life Insurance (2x Salary) 100% covered by the company
- Flexible PTO, 401K, Financial Wellness Resources, and more

## 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)

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