Summer 2027 Internship – Mechanical Engineering

Wanna Join the Adventure?

Loft Orbital is looking for a Mechanical Engineering Intern to join our team in Golden, Colorado for Summer 2027. You’ll work alongside our Mechanical Engineering team on the design and development of hardware for satellite missions.

This internship is designed to give you meaningful ownership of a real mechanical engineering project. You’ll gain hands-on experience taking a design from early requirements and concept development through detailed design, analysis, engineering documentation, and potentially prototyping.

About This Role

As a Mechanical Engineering Intern, you’ll contribute to the design and development of a new mechanical subsystem or product that could ultimately support future Loft missions.

Depending on team priorities and active development work during the summer, you may:

Translate project needs into mechanical requirements and design constraints

Develop concepts and detailed 3D CAD models for satellite hardware

Perform structural analysis and support design validation

Create engineering drawings, including dimensions and tolerances

Coordinate with electrical, systems, manufacturing, and other engineering stakeholders

Support prototyping, manufacturing, and design iteration

Contribute to mechanical engineering standards, documentation, and best practices

Present your work and key learnings at the end of the internship

What We’re Looking For

Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field; undergraduate students must be rising juniors or rising seniors
Experience with CAD / 3D modeling through coursework, projects, research, or internships
Foundational understanding of mechanical design and analysis
Strong problem-solving and communication skills
Curiosity, initiative, and interest in hands-on spacecraft hardware development

Nice to Haves

Hands-on machining, manufacturing, or prototyping experience
Exposure to electronics packaging or mechanical design around electrical components
Experience participating in multidisciplinary engineering teams such as robotics, Formula SAE, rocketry, or CubeSat
Experience leading a school, club, or technical project
Previous internship, aerospace, or other relevant hands-on engineering experience

During Your Internship, You Can Expect To

Gain hands-on experience designing hardware that could support future satellite missions
Own meaningful engineering work from requirements through design and potentially prototyping
Receive ongoing mentorship and feedback from your mentor and manager
Work across engineering disciplines and learn how mechanical systems integrate into a spacecraft
Build relationships with fellow interns and Loft employees
Share your work and key learnings at the end of the internship

Compensation & Logistics

• Hourly compensation: $30.00/hour
• Timing: Full-time, 10–12 week Summer 2027 internship. Start and end dates will be coordinated based on school schedule and team availability.
• Location: On-site in Golden, Colorado
• Relocation: Loft offers housing/relocation support for interns traveling from outside the local area.
• In-office perks: Daily catered lunches and snacks

Who We Are: Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.

We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.