Automation & Controls Engineer

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by $450M from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alpine Space Ventures, and others – with an additional $500M in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers – we’re mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space. The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today’s and tomorrow’s massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits. With multiple launches planned through 2026 and 2027, we're Building Bigger to develop the solar system and become a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a groundbreaking Series C space startup, we’d love for you to apply. The Role You’ll be at the heart of bringing the production system to life. K2 has a strong push to vertically integrate our production system, which means you’ll work side-by-side with the production and engineering team to concept, develop, and roll out various automation projects to support this vision. This role is built for someone who learns quickly, thrives in a fast-paced environment, and wants to take ownership early. You’ll develop deep technical intuition, contribute to systems that scale, and grow into increasingly complex challenges as we push towards higher-rate production in an environment unlike anywhere else. Responsibilities Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, and production engineers to ensure seamless production automation across hardware and control layers Design and develop production tooling electromechanical automation assemblies either in-house or through vendors Own hands-on buildout, activation, and qualification of automation and controls projects across the production line spanning machine design, robotics, computer vision, and other systems Implement our HMI strategy and PLC automation in a way that makes machines easy to operate with repeatable results Understand build flow, production reliability, and process control to implement strategies to increase production takt rate and first pass yield Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, manufacturing, aero space, materials or other relevant engineering discipline 2+ years of experience in a high-volume manufacturing, production, or hands-on engineering environment Strong hands-on aptitude and willingness to work directly with hardware on the production floor Exposure to precision assembly or electromechanical integration processes Ability to read engineering drawings, schematics, and technical documentation Experience setting up a manufacturing/production floor for first article builds Nice to Have Hands-on experience with industrial automation hardware controls, PLC/HMI/Robotics software control stacks, electrical and fluid schematics Exposure to space, defense, or other high-reliability manufacturing environments Experience designing automation systems for manufacturability Demonstrated experience developing production processes from the ground up including driving design improvements for manufacturing Experience working closely with technicians and build tooling Familiarity with CAD software (NX or equivalent) and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GDT) Compensation and Benefits: Base salary range for this role is $100,000 – $140,000 + equity in the company Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: kno ... (truncated, view full listing at source)