---
title: 'Senior Avionics Mechanical Design Engineer at AscendArc'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-avionics-mechanical-design-engineer-ascendarc-beaverton-19mjvbrxrp5e'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Senior Avionics Mechanical Design Engineer at AscendArc

- **Company:** AscendArc
- **Location:** Beaverton
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-01-13
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/ascendarc/am9icG9zdDp5_-HIXqQKANhv-uFMblkR

## Job description

Come join us in shaping the future! Get in on the ground floor as an early member of our Manufacturing team as an Avionics Mechanical Design Engineer developing a revolutionary satellite communications system. Connect the vision to the hardware, build it, test it and fly it.

AscendArc is a seed stage startup founded to revolutionize the satellite communications industry. We are looking for doers who want to work in a ground-breaking and fast-paced environment. Our success will depend on your energy, skill, and creativity.

What You'll Do:

- Lead the design, prototyping, and production roll-out of spacecraft avionics assemblies and parts
- Apply technical knowledge across mechanical, electrical, and thermal systems
- Own a design from requirements generation to releasing fabrication outputs
- Support manufacturing and assembly of flight and qualification hardware at the prototype and production level
- Comfortable being a mechanical functional lead in multidisciplinary teams
- Ability to design and fabricate test fixtures to support prototype validation
- Desire to create innovative solutions in highly constrained design spaces

What You'll Bring:

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Automotive or related field
- 5+ years of experience designing/integrating/testing electronics enclosures for aerospace or other high reliability harsh temperature/vibration/vacuum environments
- Knowledge of aerospace connector systems and harness design methodologies using IPC-620 quality standards
- Familiar with PCB design process and fabrication technologies
- Experience designing for or performing harsh environment test methods included in DO-160 or MIL-STD-810
- High fluency in advanced CAD software suites
- Experience installing sensor test assemblies and operating test equipment for mechanical and thermal design validation, with software scripted control a strong plus
- Perform mechanical tolerance analysis
- Skilled in prototype construction using metals, composites, and fabricated materials
- Familiar with manufacturing documentation and process control
- Comfortable iterating designs, troubleshooting builds, and solving hands-on engineering problems
- Capable of independent work with minimal oversight and good communication across engineering and production teams

## Compensation

The base salary range for this position is $120,000-190,000. When determining an individual’s compensation, we consider several factors including skillset, experience, job scope, and current market data, so pay for this role may vary from the amounts listed.

Legal Eligibility to Work Due to U.S. export control regulations, this position is only open to “U.S. persons.” That means you must be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or have refugee/asylee status. Unfortunately, we cannot consider applicants on temporary work visas (such as H-1B, TN, O-1, etc.) for this role.

## Equal Employment Opportunity

AscendArc is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor or legally protected status.

## About AscendArc

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: AscendArc is revolutionizing satellite communications by designing and manufacturing low-cost, high-bandwidth, volume-produced small geostationary (GEO) satellites for military and commercial customers.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed Stage)
- **Headquarters**: Beaverton, Oregon, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Chris McLain

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Satellite Telecommunications / Space Technology
- **Target Customers**: Military/Defense organizations and commercial telecommunications providers (B2B, Government)
- **Mission/Purpose**: To fundamentally change the economics of the satellite communications industry by making geostationary satellites faster to build, easier to scale, and dramatically more cost-effective — applying the scalability and production efficiency of LEO manufacturing to high-performance GEO satellites [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/).

## Products & Services
- **Small Geostationary Satellites**: Volume-produced, small GEO satellites that deliver high bandwidth at a fraction of the cost of traditional GEO satellites. They are highly reconfigurable and highly maneuverable, designed for rapid deployment and volume production [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of $7.75M across multiple rounds [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/ascendarc).
- **Funding History**:
  - Pre-Seed Round (Jan 2024): $505,000
  - Seed Round (Mar 2025): $3.5M from 6 investors
  - Total raised: $7.75M (conflicting reports show $4M on some sources, $7.75M on others) [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/ascendarc) [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/ascendarc)
- **Notable Investors**: Hunter Communications, Everywhere Ventures, Portland Seed Fund, Thermo Capital Partners, Seraphim Space [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/ascendarc)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew 80% YoY, now at 22 employees [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/ascendarc)
  - LinkedIn followers grew 94.1% annually [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/ascendarc)
  - Filed at least 1 patent related to stackable satellite design and antenna technology [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/ascendarc)
  - Active job postings for senior engineering roles (Avionics, Thermal, Test, Structures) [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/ascendarc)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Cost Disruption**: Applying high-volume, low-cost manufacturing principles from LEO satellites to the GEO market, traditionally dominated by expensive, bespoke spacecraft.
- **Speed to Market**: Designed for rapid deployment compared to traditional GEO satellite development cycles (years vs. decades).
- **Reconfigurability & Maneuverability**: Satellites are designed to be highly adaptable in orbit, serving evolving military and commercial needs.
- **Small Team Agility**: A lean, driven team of ~22 people with a "cradle-to-grave" design culture where every person has real ownership [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers).

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling Production**: Moving from design to volume manufacturing of small GEO satellites.
- **Talent Acquisition**: Actively hiring senior engineering talent across mechanical, thermal, test, and avionics disciplines to support growth [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/ascendarc).
- **Commercial & Military Expansion**: Targeting both government/defense contracts and commercial telecom applications for secure, resilient connectivity [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/).

## Why Work Here
- **Hands-On, High-Ownership Culture**: "Cradle-to-grave" design culture where ideas are built, tested, and launched — not just sketched on paper. Every voice shapes the mission [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers).
- **Hybrid & Remote Flexibility**: Most roles follow a hybrid schedule (3 days onsite in Beaverton, OR; 2 days remote). Some roles are fully remote within the US depending on position [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers).
- **Benefits**:
  - Competitive salary and equity [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers)
  - Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employee and family [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers)
  - 3 weeks paid vacation to start, with additional time for tenured employees, plus 11 paid holidays [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers)
  - 401(k) plan [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers)
- **Fast-Paced, Groundbreaking Work**: Opportunity to work on cutting-edge space technology in a startup environment that is lean, driven, and collaborative [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers).
- **Office Location**: Beaverton, Oregon — part of the Portland metro area's growing aerospace and tech ecosystem.

## Sources
1. [ascendarc.com](https://www.ascendarc.com/)
2. [ascendarc.com/careers](https://www.ascendarc.com/careers)
3. [linkedin.com/company/ascendarc](https://linkedin.com/company/ascendarc)
4. [cbinsights.com/company/ascendarc](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/ascendarc)
5. [builtin.com/company/ascendarc-1](https://builtin.com/company/ascendarc-1)

## Other roles at AscendArc

- [Senior/Principal Thermal Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-principal-thermal-engineer-ascendarc-beaverton-78r3q5ngpyfd) — Beaverton
- [Executive Assistant & Office Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-assistant-office-manager-ascendarc-beaverton-jgbbscxwqtn8) — Beaverton
- [Supply Chain Manager/Director - Aerospace](https://feeny.ai/job/supply-chain-manager-director-aerospace-ascendarc-beaverton-cz5x48rfp945) — Beaverton
- [Senior RF Board Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-rf-board-engineer-ascendarc-beaverton-bhc2ednb1qng) — Beaverton
- [System Integration and Test Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/system-integration-and-test-lead-ascendarc-beaverton-man25wyp4y02) — Beaverton
- [Propulsion Engineering Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/propulsion-engineering-lead-ascendarc-beaverton-pn99802wf8zq) — Beaverton
- [Senior/Lead Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-lead-mechanical-engineer-ascendarc-beaverton-j17f7ewzay7a) — Beaverton
- [Senior/Staff Test Engineer - Structures and Mechanisms](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-test-engineer-structures-and-mechanisms-ascendarc-beaverton-5ywyfz5x79hz) — Beaverton
- [Composite Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/composite-technician-ascendarc-beaverton-0aayb9nagjva) — Beaverton