C-UAS Mechanical Design Engineer

STARK is a new kind of defence technology company revolutionising the way autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. We design, develop, and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost-effective — providing operators with a decisive edge in contested environments.

We are focused on delivering deployable, high-performance systems — not future promises. In a time of rising threats, STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe, today.

• Design and detail mechanical structures, mechanisms, and payload/subsystem interfaces for UAS airframes, balancing weight, manufacturability, and structural margin.

• Own design work across multiple concurrent programs, adapting core platform components to program-specific requirements without duplicating effort from scratch each time.

• Run tolerance stack-ups, material selection, and design-for-manufacture (DFM) reviews to keep designs producible at the volumes STARK is scaling toward.

• Collaborate directly with systems, avionics, and payload integration engineers to close mechanical interface requirements early, before they become integration problems.

• Support prototype build, assembly, and test activities hands-on — being on the floor when a design needs to prove itself, not just in the model.

• Drive design reviews and maintain documentation (drawings, BOMs, change records) to a standard that supports both rapid iteration and eventual certification/production needs.

• Work with suppliers and manufacturing partners on producibility, cost, and lead time trade-offs for mechanical components.

• Flag cross-program design risks and reuse opportunities to the platform team, helping the core architecture stay coherent as the product portfolio grows.

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related field.

• 5+ years of hands-on mechanical design experience in aerospace, UAS, automotive, or another weight- and reliability-critical industry.

• Strong working knowledge of 3D CAD (SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, or Creo) and associated PDM/drawing workflows.

• Practical understanding of DFM/DFA principles and sheet metal, machined, and/or composite part design.

• Experience designing mechanical interfaces between subsystems (structural, payload, electrical) in a multi-disciplinary engineering environment.

• Comfortable working across multiple projects in parallel without losing design rigor on any one of them.

• Hands-on orientation: willing to be in the lab or on the build floor when a design needs validation, not purely desk-based.

• Experience with composite structures or additive manufacturing for flight hardware.

• Exposure to structural analysis/FEA, even if not the primary role (ability to sanity-check your own designs).

• Prior experience on a platform/core engineering team supporting multiple downstream programs.

• Working German — useful for day-to-day collaboration with the Munich engineering team, though not a hard requirement.