R&D Engineer - Actuators (f/m/d) Verified today

Position purpose

As an R&D Engineer - Actuators, you'll work at the heart of product development and improvement, designing, testing, and qualifying space-grade hardware that must perform flawlessly in the harshest environments.

You'll take ownership of both new product development projects and the continuous improvement of current product lines. You'll define and execute test and qualification campaigns, analyze results, and ensure full documentation and compliance. Collaborating closely with Production, Product Assurance and Sales, you'll help solve technical challenges, optimize designs for manufacturability, and develop jigs, fixtures, and ground support equipment.

Key responsibilities

• Design and develop mechanical and electromechanical components and assemblies for space mechanisms.
• Own and execute product testing and qualification, both in-house and with external test facilities, including test setup, data acquisition, and qualification reporting.
• Create and maintain qualification and verification documentation (test plans, TRRs, reports, conformance matrices) in line with industry and internal standards.
• Lead engineering change requests (ECRs) to continuously improve product reliability, manufacturability, and cost efficiency.
• Collaborate with Industrial Engineering and Product Assurance to investigate issues, perform root cause analyses, and implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Design and maintain assembly jigs, fixtures, and ground support equipment (GSE) to streamline manufacturing of prototypes and test operations.
• Take a hands-on role in assembling pre-production units of your own designs, carrying that hardware knowledge through handover to serial production.
• Contribute to continuous improvement projects on product design, features and test methodology.
• Apply programming skills (Python, C/C++) to automate tests, analyze data, or support embedded systems development.
• Support cross-functional design reviews and internal qualification reviews.
• Document all work clearly and maintain configuration control in alignment with company and space industry standards.

Required background

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical, Mechatronics, or Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience in development of space mechanisms.
• Experience in tribology.
• Experience in GD&T, manufacturing processes and analysis.
• Hands-on mentality on building prototypes.
• Experience working with relevant standards (ECSS, Military standards, NASA standards, etc).
• Solid understanding of mechanical design principles, materials, and manufacturing techniques.
• Hands-on experience with CAD tools (SolidWorks, Creo, or similar).
• Experience in testing and qualification of space hardware or similar high-reliability systems.
• Basic to intermediate programming skills (Python, C/C++) for test automation or data analysis.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset; ability to work independently on technically complex tasks.
• Practical experience in a lab or test environment, with attention to detail and documentation rigor.
• Collaborative mindset with interest in working closely with Production, Product Assurance and Sales teams.
• Fluency in English.
• Eligibility to work in Germany.

Familiarity with ECSS or NASA testing and qualification standards is a plus.