Principal Hardware Engineer, Analog & RF
About Mesa Quantum
Mesa Quantum is building the manufacturing backbone of the quantum economy. We specialize in chip-scale quantum devices, starting with clocks and sensors, that unlock resilient Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) for defense, telecom, space, and critical infrastructure. Our team combines world-class expertise in AMO physics, photonics, microfabrication, and engineering to transform breakthrough science into scalable, deployable technology. Backed by top-tier deep-tech investors and the U.S. Department of Defense, Mesa Quantum is rapidly scaling and actively recruiting exceptional innovators who want to build the future of quantum technology from the ground up.
The Role
Mesa Quantum UK is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to lead the mechanical, thermal, and packaging design of our chip-scale atomic devices: atomic clocks, magnetometers, and gyroscopes.
These devices share a common core: a small, heated alkali vapor cell probed by a laser. The package determines how much power it takes to hold that cell at temperature, how well the atoms are isolated from heat, stray magnetic fields, and vibration, and whether the device can be built in volume. You will own those decisions from first prototype through manufacturable product, working with a small UK team and with Mesa's engineering teams in the United States.
This is a senior, hands-on role with ownership of mechanical design across Mesa Quantum UK's chip-scale atomic device portfolio. You will help establish the engineering foundation of Mesa Quantum UK and work closely with Mesa's broader engineering team as we develop clocks, magnetometers, and gyroscopes for timing, navigation, and sensing applications. The role reports to Mesa Quantum's CTO.
We welcome candidates from mechanical engineering, physics, or precision instrument backgrounds who have designed and built small, high-precision hardware. Experience with quantum sensors is valuable but not required; demonstrated depth in precision mechanical design, thermal management, and hands-on build and test matters most.
What You Will Do:
- Build thermal models that predict heater power and temperature gradients across the operating temperature range, and correlate them to measured data.
Own the mechanical and thermal design of Mesa Quantum UK's chip-scale atomic clocks, magnetometers, and gyroscopes, from concept through drawings, prototypes, and production release. - Design magnetic shielding and field control for each device type, including multi-layer high-permeability shields, field coils, and non-magnetic materials and fasteners, with particular care for magnetometers and gyroscopes, where magnetic cleanliness sets performance.
- Design hermetic and vacuum packages: ceramic and metal packages, sealing, getters, feedthroughs, and backfill, verified with leak testing and outgassing-controlled materials.
- Run structural, modal, vibration, and shock analysis, and design for environmental testing and deployment on vehicles, aircraft, and other fielded platforms, including mounting and axis alignment for inertial sensing.
- Own tolerance stacks and optical alignment for the laser, optics, vapor cell, and detector, with production-quality drawings to recognized GD&T standards (ISO GPS or ASME Y14.5).
- Design and build test fixtures, assembly tooling, and environmental test setups for device characterization.
- Drive design for manufacture and assembly with UK machining, packaging, and photonics suppliers, and support the transfer of designs into volume production.
- Share a common mechanical design approach across the clock, magnetometer, and gyroscope product lines, working closely with Mesa's physics, photonics, electronics, and manufacturing teams in the UK and the United States.
- Establish mechanical design standards, documentation, and configuration control for the UK team.
- Work with academic, government, and industry partners in the UK quantum ecosystem on joint development and testing.
- Design thermal isolation for heated vapor cells and lasers, including low-conductance supports, radiation shields, and vacuum or low-pressure environments that minimize heater power and warm-up time.
Requirements
What You Bring:
- At least 6 years of experience designing precision mechanical hardware, including at least one design taken from prototype to production.
- Expert 3D CAD skills (SolidWorks, Creo, or similar) and production-quality drawings with GD&T.
- Thermal and structural finite element analysis (ANSYS, COMSOL, or similar), correlated to test data.
- Experience designing small hardware where millimeters and milliwatts matter.
- Experience with vacuum or hermetic packaging: sealing methods, leak testing, outgassing control, and cleanliness.
- Hands-on build and test skills: you assemble your own prototypes and run your own thermal and vibration tests.
- Clear technical documentation and the ability to work directly with machine shops, package vendors, and contract manufacturers.
- Experience with atomic clocks, magnetometers, gyroscopes, or other quantum sensors, magnetic shield design, MEMS or microelectronic packaging, laser or photonics packaging, or defense, aerospace, or space hardware and environmental qualification (for example DEF STAN 00-35 or MIL-STD-810) would be valuable.
- A degree in mechanical engineering, or a physics or engineering degree with equivalent mechanical design experience.
- Eligible to work in the UK
