Mechanical Engineering Co-op

The role

You will be an embedded member of the Spacecraft Mechanical and Thermal team. You will own the design and development of mechanical hardware supporting spacecraft manufacturing, integration, and test activities.

What you will do

• Own the design and development of mechanical hardware supporting spacecraft manufacturing, integration, and test activities.
• Partner with engineering, manufacturing, and operations teams to define requirements and develop practical design solutions.
• Create detailed CAD models, manufacturing drawings, and engineering documentation.
• Perform engineering analyses to validate structural, mechanical, and packaging performance.
• Coordinate fabrication, procurement, assembly, and integration of designed hardware.
• Support integration, testing, verification, and continuous improvement efforts.
• Participate in design reviews and cross-functional engineering discussions.
• Communicate technical progress, tradeoffs, risks, and final results to engineering leadership.

Required qualifications

• Currently pursuing a BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• Expected graduation between December 2026 and May 2028.
• Completed at least one prior internship or co-op in a mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, manufacturing engineering, or closely related hardware-engineering role.
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, testing, or supporting mechanical hardware beyond coursework alone.
• Proficiency with SolidWorks or similar 3D CAD software.
• Ability to create or interpret mechanical drawings and basic engineering documentation.
• Working knowledge of mechanical design fundamentals, including material selection, fastening, tolerancing, load paths, and design tradeoffs.
• Ability to commit to a full-time, six-month co-op.
• Comfortable working in both office and hands-on laboratory/manufacturing environments.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to work on-site in Burlingame throughout the co-op.

Nice to have

• Experience designing and releasing hardware for fabrication, including drawings, GD&T, tolerance analysis, and/or bills of materials.
• Familiarity with DFM/DFA principles and common manufacturing processes such as machining, sheet metal, additive manufacturing, composites, or assembly processes.
• Hands-on experience with mechanical assembly, integration, test, troubleshooting, or validation.
• Experience with structural analysis, hand calculations, FEA, or test-data analysis.
• Experience in a fast-paced hardware environment, such as robotics, CubeSat teams, Formula SAE, aerospace, research laboratories, or manufacturing.
• Interest in spacecraft, aerospace, and high-reliability hardware development.

Before you apply

• For U.S. Roles: applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e. Green Card holder), or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).
• For U.K. Roles: requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks, and successful candidates must be eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC).
• For Canada Roles: Successful candidates must obtain and hold a security clearance at the reliability status level, and pass security assessment for the Canadian Controlled Goods Program (CGP) and ITAR

About the company

Xona is the navigational intelligence company bringing real-time, centimeter-level certainty to any device, anywhere on Earth. With Pulsar, Xona will offer a future-proof, backwards-compatible global positioning system optimized for absolute precision, superior power, and robust protection.