Optomechanical Engineer

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.

K2's plan doesn't stop at satellite buses. By operating our own vehicles and manifesting regular rides to space, K2 is uniquely positioned to design, test, and deploy-at-scale ambitious optical payloads in MEO, GEO, cis-lunar, and deep space on unprecedented timelines. The satellite bus is the platform - the payloads are the mission.

You will own the design and build of the precision optomechanical structures that hold our optical payloads together in the space environment. This is a mechanically-focused role at the intersection of structures and optics: you will mount lenses and mirrors, design the structures that support them, and make sure the optical system holds its alignment through launch, thermal cycling, and on-orbit operation. You'll partner closely with optical engineers, but your center of gravity is mechanical design, structural performance, and hardware realization.

In your first 6 months, you will define optomechanical requirements, create initial concepts and trades, perform preliminary and detailed analysis, define development test campaigns, and produce development hardware. In your first year, you will validate your designs through prototype iterations and build and qualify flight hardware. In your first two years you will fly your hardware in space while directly supporting production and integration.

• Design optomechanical assemblies - optical benches, mirror mounts, lens cells, and support structures - from conceptual design through qualification to on-orbit operations, in support of internal and external customer needs

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