People Operations Specialist
ABOUT US:
Astro Mechanica is a vertically integrated aerospace company building a faster, more connected future. Our mission is to democratize high-speed flight by making supersonic travel flexible, accessible, and sustainable. We believe that rapid, on-demand, point-to-point global mobility will become the new standard for moving people and goods across the planet. To achieve this, we are integrating our advanced airframe and engine technologies—which include Duality™, our proprietary dual-use propulsion system—with a new flight operations model to make supersonic transport as efficient and economical as commercial air travel is today. In the near term, we are developing adaptable, high-speed systems to close aircraft performance gaps for the United States government.
WHO WE ARE:
We’re a team of passionate engineers dedicated to advancing aerospace. We’re generalists with specialist depth, united by a flat structure and a shared obsession with building things that work well. We move fast, stay pragmatic, and let engineering excellence speak louder than hierarchy.
WHO YOU ARE:
You are a strong operator with a people-first mindset who is passionate about creating an exceptional employee experience. You are excited to own the employee journey from offer acceptance through offboarding, ensuring every interaction is seamless, thoughtful, and well executed. You are exceptionally organized and detail-oriented, with a track record of managing multiple priorities while ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. You thrive in a fast-paced environment, are comfortable navigating ambiguity, and take pride in bringing structure and consistency to complex problems. You build trust quickly through excellent interpersonal and communication skills, exercise sound judgment when handling sensitive and confidential matters, and know when to resolve issues independently. Most importantly, you take ownership, sweat the details, and are excited to shape what it means to work at Astro Mechanica as the company grows.
WHAT YOU’LL DO:
Build scalable People Operations processes from the ground up, creating systems that enable the company to grow while staying lean
Support recruiting operations, including interview scheduling, candidate coordination, ATS administration, reporting, and recruiting metrics to provide visibility into hiring health across the organization
Own benefits administration end-to-end, including enrollment, employee support, vendor management, compliance, annual renewals, and continuous improvements to the employee experience
Own HR compliance administration across multiple states, including claims management, compliance, and coordination with insurance carriers and external partners, catching gaps before they become liabilities
Own onboarding execution, including employment documentation, HRIS setup, benefits enrollment, and first-day readiness
Support compensation planning, market benchmarking, equity administration, and annual compensation review cycles in partnership with leadership
Serve as the primary point of contact for employee questions related to benefits, policies, and HR operations, exercising sound judgment on when to resolve issues independently versus when to involve leadership or outside counsel
Own and continuously improve HR systems, documentation, workflows, and reporting to increase operational efficiency and reduce administrative burden
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:
3–6+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations, Benefits Administration, or a generalist HR role with significant operational ownership
Working knowledge of U.S. employment law and multi-state HR compliance, with sound judgment on when to resolve issues independently versus escalate to leadership or outside counsel
Experience independently owning a benefits renewal cycle, including broker coordination, plan evaluation, employee communications, and open enrollment
Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail, with a proven ability to manage multiple priorities and ensure nothing falls through the cracks
Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust across all levels of the organization while handling sensitive and confidential information with discretion
A proactive, ownership-oriented mindset with the ability to build processes, solve problems, and drive initiatives with minimal direction
Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-growth startup environment where priorities evolve quickly
Experience in aerospace, defense or another hardware-focused industry a plus, familiarity with ITAR facilities a plus
PERKS & BENEFITS:
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, including Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) program and transparent stock option plan
Self-managed and flexible time-off policy, including PTO, paid holidays, and sick time
Flexible work environment
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
At Astro Mechanica, we highly value in-office work to foster collaboration and strengthen our company culture. We consider working in the office five days a week an essential part of the employee's role.
Astro Mechanica is an equal opportunity employer. We proudly recruit and hire a diverse workforce and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Director of Marketing
ABOUT US:
Astro Mechanica is a vertically integrated aerospace company building a faster, more connected future. Our mission is to democratize high-speed flight by making supersonic travel flexible, accessible, and sustainable. We believe that rapid, on-demand, point-to-point global mobility will become the new standard for moving people and goods across the planet. To achieve this, we are integrating our advanced airframe and engine technologies—which include Duality™, our proprietary dual-use propulsion system—with a new flight operations model to make supersonic transport as efficient and economical as commercial air travel is today. In the near term, we are developing adaptable, high-speed systems to close aircraft performance gaps for the United States government.
WHO WE ARE:
We’re a team of passionate engineers dedicated to advancing aerospace. We’re generalists with specialist depth, united by a flat structure and a shared obsession with building things that work well. We move fast, stay pragmatic, and let engineering excellence speak louder than hierarchy.
WHO YOU ARE:
You are a recognized leader in brand and communications with a strong aesthetic sense and an instinct for narrative. You’ve shaped brand and run marketing for rapidly growing companies—ideally in aerospace, defense, or other technically complex domains—and you’re as comfortable defining strategy as you are executing it. You are an outstanding writer and editor, capable of translating sophisticated technology into clear, compelling messaging for diverse audiences.
WHAT YOU’LL DO:
As Director of Marketing, you will build and own Astro Mechanica’s brand and marketing engine from the ground up. You will craft the narrative, lead campaigns, and ensure our story is told with clarity, credibility, and conviction across every external touchpoint.
Specifically, you will:
Define and steward Astro Mechanica’s brand voice, visual identity, and messaging system.
Lead design and creative resources to produce high-impact content for investors, talent, partners, and senior U.S. government and defense leadership.
Oversee the creation of compelling, on-brand content across web, presentations, announcements, and long-form formats.
Elevate the voices of Astro Mechanica’s leadership through differentiated thought leadership, public commentary, and executive communications.
Partner closely with leadership on investor-facing materials, including fundraising decks, investor updates, milestone announcements, and strategic narrative.
Ensure all external-facing materials are cohesive, polished, and aligned with our brand and business objectives.
Build and lead a small, high-output marketing and creative team over time.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:
8–12+ years of experience in marketing, brand, and/or strategic communications.
Proven experience building or significantly reimagining brand and marketing from an early stage—ideally as Director/Head of Marketing, Director/Head of Communications, or similar senior role.
Demonstrated success running campaigns that drove hiring and revenue outcomes.
Exceptional writing and editing skills, with a portfolio spanning executive comms, web copy, decks, and long-form content.
A passion for aviation or defense technology.
Strong creative taste and experience collaborating closely with designers and video teams to produce cohesive, on-brand work.
Ability to deeply understand technical products and translate them into buyer- and candidate-friendly messaging.
Comfortable operating both strategically and tactically—designing the strategy and also doing the execution.
Experience leading and developing small, high-output creative/marketing teams.
Bay Area location a plus; remote with travel acceptable.
PERKS & BENEFITS:
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, including Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) program and transparent stock option plan
Self-managed and flexible time-off policy, including PTO, paid holidays, and sick time
Flexible work environment
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Astro Mechanica is an equal opportunity employer. We proudly recruit and hire a diverse workforce and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Business Development Manager, Defense
Mission Systems Lead
ABOUT US:
Astro Mechanica is a vertically integrated aerospace company building a faster, more connected future. Our mission is to democratize high-speed flight by making supersonic travel flexible, accessible, and sustainable. We believe that rapid, on-demand, point-to-point global mobility will become the new standard for moving people and goods across the planet. To achieve this, we are integrating our advanced airframe and engine technologies—which include Duality™, our proprietary dual-use propulsion system—with a new flight operations model to make supersonic transport as efficient and economical as commercial air travel is today. In the near term, we are developing adaptable, high-speed systems to close aircraft performance gaps for the United States government.
WHO WE ARE:
We’re a team of passionate engineers dedicated to advancing aerospace. We’re generalists with specialist depth, united by a flat structure and a shared obsession with building things that work well. We move fast, stay pragmatic, and let engineering excellence speak louder than hierarchy.
WHO YOU ARE:
Astro Mechanica is seeking a Mission Systems Lead to join our rapidly scaling Defense Systems team. The MS Lead will be responsible for directing the development and integration of comprehensive mission system architectures for advanced tactical autonomous and collaborative aircraft that address critical mission needs for our U.S. and coalition air forces.
As Mission Systems Lead, you will be responsible for working across multi-functional teams and leading mission systems trade studies to develop and decompose requirements that drive the most affordable and lethal mission outcomes. You will design and build mission system architectures, lead analytical modeling activities to validate kill chain closure, and work closely with air vehicle and systems engineering teams to integrate mission system capabilities that deliver warfighting solutions that improve mission outcomes.
You will own mission systems hardware, software, and interface architectures, and lead conceptual design, vendor engagement, preliminary design, and integration efforts to accelerate development, integration, prototyping, and demonstration activities for timely delivery of revolutionary and disruptive air dominance and strike capabilities for our customers.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
Lead mission systems architecture and integration activities for autonomous, reconfigurable, and modular open systems approach (MOSA)-compliant mission system architectures that close critical warfighting gaps
Lead analytical and concept design trade studies for passive and active RF sensing, multi-functional aperture integration, EO/IR, LIDAR, and EW sensors and effectors
Conduct trade studies for line-of-sight and beyond line-of-site communications, data links, and sensors to enable effective navigation, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and autonomous combat operations in the vast INDOPACIFIC theater and contested spectrum
Lead vendor engagement to identify state-of-the-art mission system capabilities, cost, evolve requirements, assess technical and integration maturity, and inform mission suitability for air vehicle integration
Work across Defense Systems and Engineering teams and subject matter experts to evolve system requirements, integrate hardware and software architectures, define and develop hardware and software interfaces, and balance capabilities for optimum mission outcomes at minimum cost
Adapt or derive physics-based models to evaluate or predict payload system performance
Collaborate directly with customers to understand warfighter needs and translate to mission systems requirements to inform design
Operate effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment while managing multiple priorities.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
B.S. in Electrical Engineering, preferred, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics or a related science acceptable.
Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Top Secret security clearance
Communications, sensors, and effector domain expertise in one or more of Radar, EO/IR, RF, and EW systems
Physics-based modeling and analysis of system performance in tool(s) of your choice
5+ years experience working RF and/or EO/IR mission systems development and integration on crewed or uncrewed tactical aircraft
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
Knowledge of current and next-generation sensing and effector systems and platforms
System trade and integration experience
Proficiency in relevant toolsets or languages (e.g., MATLAB, Python, C++, COMSOL, Ansys)
Experience with electromagnetic control (EMCON) modes and EMCON emissions / communication techniques
Advanced communications experience (e.g., secure LPx line-of-sight, beyond line-of-sight, tactical data links)
Advanced sensing domain experience (e.g., EO/IR, ESM, EA, EW, LIDAR)
Experience with aircraft design & integration
PERKS AND BENEFITS:
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, including Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) program and transparent stock option plan
Self-managed and flexible time-off policy, including PTO, paid holidays, and sick time
Flexible work environment
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Astro Mechanica is an equal opportunity employer. We proudly recruit and hire a diverse workforce and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
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