Lead Mechanisms Engineer, Albedo
$194.3-202.6k
+ Equity
More information about location
High-resolution satellite imagery
Job no longer available
High-resolution satellite imagery
21-100 employees
Job no longer available
$194.3-202.6k
+ Equity
More information about location
21-100 employees
Company mission
To make exquisite imagining available to the world to generate new possibilities for innovation and market growth.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years in aerospace, robotics, or optical systems with a focus on precision mechanism design
- Demonstrated experience developing:
- Reaction wheels, CMGs, or momentum management systems
- High-stability actuation for optical payloads (focus, alignment, fine steering)
- Mechanisms with tight jitter and pointing stability requirements
- Strong system-level intuition — you know how mechanism performance shapes GNC, image quality, and spacecraft agility
- Expertise in:
- Rotor balancing and bearing dynamics
- Motor control and torque ripple minimization
- Structural dynamics and modal analysis for mechanism-induced jitter
- Materials and lubrication for vacuum and long-life operation
- Experience designing and validating mechanisms for:
- Sub-micron level optical alignment
- Thermal stability and athermal design
- Fluent in first-principles tradeoffs between performance, simplicity, manufacturability, and testability
- History of leading multidisciplinary hardware teams
- Curiosity and eagerness to learn, with the drive to take ownership of problems and deliver results in a fast-moving environment
- Regularly uses AI tools as essential leverage to accelerate work, improve clarity, and multiply output
- All persons hired will be required to be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., or 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
What the job involves
- Albedo is making Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) mainstream, building the infrastructure to usher every satellite mission set into this new orbital domain
- We build buses, integrated satellites, and turnkey missions for customers to thrive in VLEO, between 200 km - 400 km, where proximity compounds performance & drag self-cleans debris
- As part of the first 100 employees at Albedo, you will have a big impact on Albedo’s trajectory to proliferating VLEO — whether you’re advancing hardware to increase satellite longevity, scaling production for large constellations, building next-gen flight and ground software to push performance, or enabling missions that matter for national security and our day-to-day life here on earth
- Albedo takes a first-principles approach — in space and in business. We move with speed, take calculated risks, and learn quickly
- We use AI regularly to create leverage in every discipline across the company. We work in-person at our Broomfield CO HQ to maximize team & company productivity. We work hard & with urgency to compound our first-mover advantage
- You’ll join a team that has already proven what others said wasn’t feasible and is now scaling & upgrading our VLEO buses & payloads to serve mission sets across sensing, communications, and responsive operations
- Own architecture, design, and development of reaction wheels and CMGs optimized for VLEO: extremely low jitter, high torque, and long life
- Lead multi-disciplinary projects to deliver precision low-jitter mechanism that meet image motion, pointing, and agility performance requirements from a first principals approach
- Translate or help derive jitter, agility, and bandwidth requirements into mechanism design constraints and testable specs
- Own the schedule, budget, and performance parameters of all new mechanism development to deliver on project and program capabilities
- Evaluate and implement design for manufacturing (DFM) strategies for high rate production with respect to mechanism balancing, characterization, and lifetime test strategies
- Collaborate deeply with GNC and Structural Engineers to ensure closed-loop control performance and system model correlation is enabled, not limited, by the hardware
- Lead qualification efforts for all mechanisms operating in VLEO, including test planning for atomic oxygen, high drag, and microvibration
- Drive future development of:
- Fast steering mirrors for agile optical pointing
- Articulating assemblies for adaptive communications or SDA payloads
- Focus and alignment mechanisms for optical payloads
Application process
- We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us
Our take
There’s a lot of funding going into satellite startups at the moment, given how useful the technology can be across a wide spectrum of fields, from agriculture to natural disaster management and insurance. Albedo is one of a number of companies looking to break into the market, but it’s facing plenty of competition from the likes of Atlas Operations and Outpost.
However, Albedo is aiming to raise industry standards by developing satellites that can fly twice as close to Earth as that of its competition, and capture imagery at a resolution that’s almost ten times higher than what’s currently available. And its on its way to doing so, becoming the very first company to receive a license to sell this quality of imagery in 2021.
Though only founded in 2020, it has experienced remarkable growth, doubling its headcount in 2023 and expanding its operations with a state-of-the-art facility in Broomfield, Colorado and most recently, raising substantial funding to propel it even further forward. As Albedo continues to secure investments, it is strategically channeling its resources into bolstering its team and further enhancing its satellite constellation. With this rapid expansion and commitment to innovation, Albedo has every reason to be excited about the promising future that lies ahead.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Apr 2025
$100m
SERIES B
Jan 2024
$35m
SERIES A
Total funding: $193.2m
Company benefits
- 4% direct matching 401k
- Remote-friendly, asynchronous culture with flexible working hours
- Comprehensive medical insurance: health, dental, vision, mental health
- 20 paid vacation days, your from Day 1; 12 company holidays
- Monthly wellness and childcare reimbursements; generous parental leave
- Company on-sites and team retreats for in-person relationship building
Company HQ
Civic Center, Denver, CO
Leadership
Topher Haddad
(Co-Founder & CEO)Before co-founding Albedo they worked for Lockheed Martin as an Optical Systems Engineering Lead.
AJ Lasater
(Co-Founder & CTO)Previously spent almost ten years at Lockheed Martin as a Systems Engineer and Systems Architecture Manager.
Winston Tri
(Co-Founder & CPO)Co-founded and was the Lead iOS Developer of events app Ping Social. Worked for Facebook as a Software Engineer before co-founding Albedo.
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