The posting
About Orbital Operations
At Orbital Operations, we’re building the future of dynamic space maneuvering. Our mission is to enable rapid-response orbital capabilities, executing maneuvers without hesitation and without regret. Our flagship technology, the Cryogenic Propulsion Management System (CPMS), is redefining what’s possible in space mobility. Designed for military and commercial spacecraft, CPMS delivers sustained, high-thrust maneuverability in geosynchronous and cislunar orbits. It integrates low-loss cryogenic storage, reverse Brayton cycle (RBC) thermal control, and turbomachinery-driven propulsion to make spacecraft more agile, resilient, and responsive. Beyond defense, CPMS is poised to transform commercial orbital logistics. By powering next-generation orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs), it can slash LEO-to-GEO transit times from six months to just eight hours—unlocking new possibilities for satellite servicing, deployment, and beyond. Join us in building the infrastructure for a more maneuverable and mission-ready space domain.
About the Role
At Orbital Operations, we believe bold missions demand exceptional builders. We’re assembling a world-class team to push the boundaries of dynamic space maneuvering, and we’re looking for engineering interns who have already demonstrated that they can take real hardware from an idea to a tested result.
This is not an internship where you’ll spend the your time observing from the sidelines or working on isolated analysis. You’ll own a meaningful hardware project with a clear technical objective and be responsible for driving it through execution. Depending on the project, that may include defining requirements, performing analysis, designing components, creating drawings, working with vendors or manufacturing equipment, assembling hardware, developing test plans, running tests, analyzing results, troubleshooting failures, and implementing the next iteration.
You’ll be paired with a dedicated mentor, but you’ll be expected to take initiative, make sound engineering decisions, communicate blockers, and keep your project moving. You’ll work directly alongside engineers across design, analysis, manufacturing, test, and operations while contributing to hardware that supports our cryogenic propulsion and orbital mobility systems.
We are specifically looking for interns who have previously owned hardware through most or all of its lifecycle. That experience may come from a student engineering team, research laboratory, previous internship, personal project, machine shop, startup, or other hands-on environment. The scale of the project matters less than the depth of your ownership.
Strong candidates can clearly explain:
- What they personally owned and delivered
- How they translated a need into engineering requirements
- Which design decisions and tradeoffs they made
- How the hardware was manufactured and assembled
- How they tested it and determined whether it worked
- What failed, what they learned, and what they changed
- What they would do differently on the next iteration
Internship opportunities are available across our engineering teams, including:
- Mechanical Design
- Fluid Systems Design and Analysis
- Test and Integration
- Manufacturing and Assembly
- Avionics
If you want to be judged by the hardware you deliver and are ready to take a project from concept through test we’d love to hear from you.
Qualifications
- Currently pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related STEM field
- Demonstrated ownership of at least one hands on engineering project from concept or requirements through fabrication, assembly, testing, and iteration
- Strong command of engineering fundamentals and the ability to apply them to practical, open ended problems
- Experience designing, building, integrating, or testing physical hardware through a student team, internship, research program, employment, or personal project
- Ability to make engineering tradeoffs and move forward when requirements or information are incomplete
- Willingness to work directly with hardware, including assembly, instrumentation, troubleshooting, and test operations
- Ability to independently plan and execute a complex technical project while identifying and communicating risks and blockers
- Resourceful, self-directed, and comfortable learning unfamiliar tools or technical subjects quickly
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to document designs, test results, failures, and lessons learned
- Able to work full-time and onsite in Long Beach, California, for a minimum of 10–12 consecutive weeks
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with CAD, engineering drawings, tolerance analysis, machining, additive manufacturing, composite fabrication, electronics, instrumentation, or fluid-system assembly
- Experience creating and executing test plans, collecting data, and comparing results against analytical predictions or requirements
- Participation in a hands-on engineering organization such as Formula SAE, Baja SAE, liquid or solid rocketry, CubeSat, robotics, Design/Build/Fly, or a similar project team
- A portfolio, technical report, project page, or other work sample that clearly demonstrates your individual contribution to completed hardware
- Experience diagnosing a hardware failure and carrying the resulting lessons into a successful design iteration
