Vehicle Engineering Manager

Company: astrolab
Location: Hawthorne, CA
Type: onsite
Posted: Aug 19, 2026
Views: 3

✨ AI Summary

Astrolab, a company pioneering commercial planetary rovers for space exploration, is hiring a Vehicle Engineering Manager in Hawthorne, CA. This senior role leads an interdisciplinary engineering team through full vehicle design, development, and production support. Requires a STEM bachelor's degree, 5+ years in mechanical systems engineering, 3+ years leading engineers, and experience with CAD (NX preferred), FEA, and design for manufacturing. Perks include equity, comprehensive health benefits, 401(k) match, flexible PTO, and on-site amenities.

Venturi Astrolab, Inc. (Astrolab) is pioneering new ways to explore and operate on distant planetary bodies. We are singularly focused on designing, building, and operating a fleet of multi-purpose commercial planetary rovers to extend and enhance humanity’s presence in the solar system. We are seeking motivated, creative, and exceptional people to join our world-class team.

You will collaborate with other Astrolab engineers to advance product design and analysis. You will be ultimately responsible for leading a team through the entire design process, through production support, and mission operations.
  • Lead a team of interdisciplinary engineers within Vehicle Engineering
  • Create systems-level vehicle layout and architecture compliant with design requirements
  • Maintain schedule, development milestones, budget, and resource allocation
  • Design concepts/ solutions and first-order analysis
  • Drive the design and development of mechanical systems
  • Support the development of materials for design review milestones (DCR, PDR, CDR, etc) and act as the reviewer and approver for design unit progression
  • Capture, report, and analyze quality objective data
  • Participate in management Review meetings
  • Participate in internal and external audits of this process
  • Manage documented information for this process
  • Train the team and new or transferred employees in this process
  • Support goals and objectives of AS9100
  • Conduct weekly 1 on 1 meetings with direct reports
  • Conduct semi-annual reviews with direct reports
Basic Qualifications
  • Bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) related field
  • 5+ years of experience in mechanical system engineering
  • 3+ years of experience leading a team of engineers
  • Experience using CAD software for part modeling and development (NX preferred).
  • Experience using software packages for finite element modeling and analysis
  • Experience in design for manufacturing and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing of parts
  • Experience interfacing with thermal requirements and analyses
  • Experience interfacing with avionics and software (e.g., for actuator motor control)
Preferred Qualifications
  • Master’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) related field
  • Experience in the engineering of structures, mechanisms, and actuators
  • Experience in the ability to plan and execute flight hardware development programs from the ground up
  • Experience specifying and executing hardware qualification and acceptance test programs
  • Join a team of best-in-class engineers building the foundation of planetary surface exploration
  • Equity ownership in the company
  • Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and mental health support
  • 401(k) plan with company match
  • Flexible PTO and parental leave
  • Home office set up reimbursement
  • Weekly lunch stipend, plus complimentary snacks and beverages on-site
  • Once a month social hour on-site with food and drinks
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About the Company

Name: astrolab
Location: Hawthorne, California
Website: https://www.astrolab.space

Astrolab is building the robotic platform for the multi-planet future. We are pioneering new ways to explore and operate on distant planetary bodies. We’re singularly focused on designing, building, and operating a fleet of multi-purpose commercial planetary rovers to extend and enhance humanity’s presence in the solar system. The multi-functional Flexible Logistics & Exploration (FLEX) rover is being developed to support human operations, robotic science, exploration, logistics, construction, resource utilization, and other activities critical to enabling a sustained human presence on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

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