--- title: 'Senior Mechanical Engineer at Loft Orbital Solutions' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-loft-orbital-solutions-toulouse-7e56kt5nb72b' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-08' --- # Senior Mechanical Engineer at Loft Orbital Solutions - **Company:** Loft Orbital Solutions - **Location:** Toulouse, France - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-05-11 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/loftorbital/e0d2cff8-3fd6-449b-b70c-f349aab05b64 ## Job description Wanna join the adventure? Are you passionate about spacecraft design and analysis? If so, this is the perfect role for you! Loft flies multiple satellites per year and is looking for a lead Mechanical Engineer to serve as a subject matter expert within the mission and product team, supporting the larger company. This role requires a well-rounded mechanical engineer to support Loft's end to end missions and product development, with an expertise on structural analysis and test. You will be responsible for supporting "all things mechanical" for Loft missions, their customers, and their subcontractors. About the Role: - Mechanical Lead for select Loft Missions - Develop, maintain, and own mechanical analysis budgets - Create and maintain detailed engineering drawings and 3D models using CAD software. - Conduct inspections and reviews of engineering documents and hardware. - Perform structural and thermal analysis of small payload components and spacecraft - Oversight of spacecraft level structural and thermal analysis - Develop, in collaboration with team members/customers, interface specifications, control documents and other design documents - Generate test plans and procedures for structural and thermal verification activities - Review and approve test environmental test reports - Support the Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT) of all stages of a space mission, including identification and procurement of appropriate MGSE. - Work with suppliers, customers, and sub-contractors as mechanical point of contact to ensure successful mission execution. - Define and document requirements, specifications, and interfaces. - Work with a multi-disciplinary team to ensure successful mission execution Must Haves: - Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering. - 5+ years of experience in spacecraft subsystems, payloads, and vehicle mechanical design and structural analysis. - Detailed understanding of GD&T and tolerance analysis. - Proficiency with Solidworks or similar CAD software - Pragmatic vibration testing experience (pre-test inputs, test oversight, data reduction, report generation). - Spacecraft level FEA experience. Expert level knowledge of at least one solver and pre/post processor package and cursory knowledge of others (Femap, Patran, Nastran, ANSYS, etc). - Concise analysis and test report generation - Experience in small satellite assembly, integration, and test campaigns with an emphasis on vibration and thermal testing - Ability to adapt to changing requirements and work in a fast-paced environment. - Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills. - Strong attention to detail and accuracy - Experience delivering a spacecraft to standards such as ECSS and NASA GEVS - Proficiency with Solidworks or similar CAD software - Prepared to be challenged and sometimes work out of your comfort zone - Able to be accountable, autonomous, and take full ownership of projects Nice to Haves: - Ability to perform Craig Bampton (CB) model reduction for launch authorities. - Experience with thermal/structural combined analysis modeling. - Practical experience in assembly and integration of satellite hardware. - Experience working in a customer facing role. - Proven experience in optical payloads integration. - Understanding of force-limited vibration and transfer functions - End-to-end satellite mission experience Some of our Awesome Benefits: - Equity, we want you to have an active role in our success - Up to 35 days of Paid Time Off (vacations & RTT ) and flexible working hours, we want you to be at your best - Health and life insurance, we care about your health - Lunch Vouchers, because let’s be honest, we love food! (we even have a slack channel about it [#loft-gourmand](https://loftorbital.slack.com/archives/C02G64537DF)) - Cross-office travel opportunities between San Francisco, Colorado, and Toulouse to learn from our differences - Company and team off-sites and many other events to work & celebrate together - Relocation assistance to Toulouse when applicable *Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions.  We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes. ## Who We Are Loft: Space Made Simple. Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit. We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives. With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure. As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English. ## About Loft Orbital Solutions ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Loft Orbital is a space infrastructure company that provides simple, fast, and reliable ways for customers to deploy and operate physical payloads and software missions in low Earth orbit. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series C – $170M round announced, total funding $326.9M) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States (with additional offices in Golden, Colorado and Toulouse, France) - **Founded**: 2017 - **Founders**: Not listed in provided sources ## Core Business - **Primary Industry**: Defense and Space Manufacturing - **Target Customers**: B2B – commercial space startups, established aerospace and defense primes, cloud and AI companies, and government agencies worldwide (including U..S, France, Canada) - **Mission/Purpose**: “Space Made Simple” – enabling customers to focus on their mission while Loft handles end-to-end space infrastructure ## Products & Services - **Physical Payload Missions**: Loft integrates, tests, launches, and operates customer hardware payloads on its standardized satellite platforms (e.g.., optical, hyperspectral, RF sensors). - **Virtual / Software-Only Missions**: Customers can deploy software directly to Loft’s on-orbit satellites to process and analyze data in near-real time (e..g., AI edge processing via partners like SkyServe, SSCI). - **YAM (Yet Another Mission)** satellites: A fleet of multi-mission satellite buses available for rapid deployment; Loft maintains an inventory of pre-assembled platforms. - **Hub & Cockpit**: Proprietary hardware and software abstraction layers that simplify payload integration and satellite operations. - **Loft Federal**: A FOCI-mitigated division focused on US national security space missions (only US citizens). ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (total funding $326..9M – LinkedIn) - **Key Metric**: Total Funding $326..9M (8 rounds incl. $170M Series C); Annual Revenue estimated $27..8M (LinkedIn) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Lead seed investor Uncork Capital; partners include Honeywell (Canadian Space Agency mission), Wyvern (Dragonette constellation), Esper, Helsing, SmartSat CRC, EarthDaily ($150M constellation), SkyServe, SSCI, Airbus OneWeb Satellites (15 bus order). - **Growth Signals**: 270 employees (+14.9% YoY), 41k+ LinkedIn followers (+41.4% YoY), 14 satellites launched, 60+ customers, 15+ AI missions on-orbit, selected as prime contractor for France’s first space-based radar imaging program. ## Competitive Advantages - **Standardized Satellite Platform**: Uses a commodity satellite bus with custom hardware/software layers, eliminating non-recurring engineering and enabling “turnkey” plug-and-play. - **Speed to Orbit**: Maintains an inventory of pre-assembled buses and pre-booked launches, drastically reducing lead times compared to traditional aerospace. - **Flight Heritage**: Over 600 copies of the bus in orbit today, providing proven reliability - **Misson Agnosticism**: Can fly any payload that fits within standard platform constraints; supports both physical and virtual missions. ## Strategic Focus - **Expand AI Edge Computing**: Deploying onboard AI processing (e..g., STORM from SkyServe, POET experiment for SDA) to enable near-real-time decision making. - **National Security Growth**: Loft Federal continues to win US government contracts. - **Constellation Scale-Up**: Partnering with EarthDaily for $150M satellite constellation; ordering 15 additional buses from Airbus OneWeb. - **International Partnerships**: Strengthening ties with France (prime contractor for radar imaging) and Canada (SmartSat CRC, Honeywell). ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Collaborative, respectful, professional environment described as “non-negotiable.” Rated 4..5/5 on LinkedIn (35 reviews) with Culture 4.5, Compensation 4.1, Work-Life 3.6, Career 4.2. - **Wor Environment**: Distributed team with core hubs in San Francisco, Golden (CO), and Toulouse. Supports remote collaboration but roles may require on-site presence (per job listings). Recruiting process involves intro call, technical screening, challenge, and hiring panel. - **Notable Perks**: Opportunity to work on cutting-edge space infrastructure with a fast-growing company; involvement in both commercial and government missions; international team. ## Sources 1. [loftorbital..com](https://loftorbital.com/) 2. [loftorbital.com/about/](https://loftorbital.com/about/) 3. [loftorbital.com/careers/](https://loftorbital.com/careers/) 4. [jobs.lever.co/loftorbital](https://jobs.lever.co/loftorbital/) 5. 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