Mechanical Engineer | Deployable Radiators at Cowboy Space Corp. in Washington, DC

Job description

About Cowboy Space Corp Mission Cowboy Space Corporation is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. We are tackling one of humanity’s most complex engineering challenges with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Cowboy Space Corporation is transforming how civilization powers, computes and connects - from orbit to Earth. Background Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport. Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases. Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others. This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you. The Role As a Mechanical Engineer – Deployable Radiators, you will be the responsible engineer for the large deployable radiators that reject heat from our on-orbit compute payload and integrate the spacecraft’s liquid cooling loop. This is a structures-first, hands-on role: you will own the structural design of the radiator panels, the mechanisms that stow, restrain, and deploy them, and the thermal integration that turns them into a working radiator. You will own this hardware end to end, from concept and analysis through the ground testbeds used to prove it out, qualification, and on-orbit deployment. These are large, load-bearing structures that must survive demanding launch and ascent environments while stowed and then deploy reliably into a stiff, flat radiating surface on orbit. You will work closely with thermal, structures, manufacturing, propulsion, power, avionics, and software teams to deliver an integrated solution. We’re looking for a strong structures and manufacturing background paired with solid mechanism design skills—someone who can move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of hardware that directly determines whether our payload survives launch and stays cool in orbit. Responsibilities • Own the structural design of the deployable radiator panels from concept through flight, sizing them to survive stowed launch and ascent loads and to deploy into a radiating surface. • Perform structural analysis across the full mission profile, including quasi-static and random vibration launch loads and deployed-state dynamics. • Drive design-for-manufacturing of the panels and their assemblies, including joining and/or bonding methods, and work with suppliers to ensure high-quality, scalable production. • Design the deployment mechanisms that stow, restrain, and deploy the radiators—hinges, latch