Spaceplane - Senior Mechanical Engineer

Are you a creative problem solver and hands-on engineer looking for something extraordinary? Join our team building a new generation vehicle, where every day brings a new technical challenge and the opportunity to shape the future of spaceflight.

We’re looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to join our Airframe Team, contributing directly to the design, build, test, and operation of our sub-orbital vehicle. This role spans the full engineering lifecycle—from concept to flight—and is ideal for someone excited to work across disciplines in a fast-moving, high-performance environment.

What You’ll Do

Depending on your skills and experience, your responsibilities could include:

- Owning cross-disciplinary design projects covering structures, actuation, integration, and testing
- Collaborating across functions to solve complex problems in aerodynamic and structural design
- Appling first principles and design-for-manufacture thinking to composite structures, subsystems, linkages, and interfaces
- Overseeing procurement, supplier coordination, and in-house manufacturing and integration
- Running design reviews, ensuring robust consideration of performance, cost, schedule and risk
- Producing detailed documentation including compliance and qualification reports
- Driving process improvement and help scale our engineering capabilities

You’ll Need to Bring:

- A degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or similar
- 6+ years’ industry experience with complex systems (aerospace, automotive, marine, etc.)
- Demonstrated expertise in design for manufacture and structural engineering
- Proficiency in 3D CAD (preferably SolidWorks) and data management
- Experience in structural analysis (FEA or equivalent)
- Hands-on experience in mechanical build, assembly, integration and test
- Strong communication, organisation, and reporting skills
- Experience working with suppliers and subcontractors
- A proactive mindset and collaborative approach to solving tough problems

Bonus Points For:

- Experience leading integrated project teams (Project Engineering)
- Mentoring and technical leadership of junior engineers
- Aerodynamic design and analysis using first principles
- Composite and additive (3D printed) design/manufacturing
- Instrumentation, data acquisition and dynamic modelling
- Familiarity with relevant design codes and aerospace standards

About Us - Dawn Aerospace

Dawn Aerospace is developing the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever to take off from a runway, combining the extreme performance of rocket propulsion with the reusability of conventional airplanes to enable high-frequency, low-cost access to sub-orbital space. Our flagship aircraft, the Mk-II Aurora spaceplane, is designed to push the boundaries of aviation into space, providing a scalable and cost-effective platform for microgravity research, atmospheric studies, and aerospace innovation. In 2024, the Aurora spaceplane broke the sound barrier, reaching Mach 1.12 at 82,500 feet, and set a record for the fastest climb to 20 kilometres (65,600 feet).

We're a tight-knit, cross-functional team with a passion for building things that matter. If you're ready to be part of a bold, hands-on engineering challenge that’s changing how space is accessed—let’s talk. And even if you think you have what it takes but are unsure that you check every box, we still want to hear from you.

Please also note that due to our current customer base and the nature of our industry and technology, we are required to conduct background checks that are undertaken for security reasons. These checks will include nationality checks as it is a requirement of this position that the Employee be eligible to access equipment and data regulated by domestic and foreign regulations. Under these regulations, an employee may be ineligible for a role in our New Zealand office if they do not hold citizenship of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the European Union or a country that is part of NATO, or if they hold ineligible dual citizenship or nationality.