Senior Mechanical Engineer

Leidos has an opening in our Albuquerque, NM office for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to support the development, fabrication, integration, testing, and deployment of innovative hardware and systems for Department of Defense customers.

The successful candidate will work with a multidisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, technicians, and fabricators in a research and development environment supporting advanced directed energy technologies, including high-power microwave, RF, electromagnetic, and pulsed-power systems.

The engineer will be responsible for taking mechanical designs from concept through detailed design, fabrication, assembly, integration, and test. The position requires an individual who can work independently, communicate effectively across technical disciplines, and collaborate closely with machinists, fabricators, vendors, and other engineers to develop robust, manufacturable hardware.

Primary Responsibilities

• Create 3D solid models and detailed mechanical designs for innovative hardware, equipment, and systems, carrying designs from initial requirements and concepts through fabrication, assembly, integration, and testing.
• Perform appropriate engineering analysis to support design decisions and verify mechanical performance.
• Create and maintain engineering drawings, including appropriate dimensions, tolerances, and other manufacturing requirements, in accordance with company standards and customer specifications.
• Design hardware with consideration for manufacturability, material selection, machining, welding, fabrication, assembly, and maintenance requirements.
• Work directly with Leidos machinists, fabricators, technicians, and external vendors to develop, procure, and support fabrication of mechanical components and assemblies.
• Resolve design, fabrication, assembly, and testing issues by developing practical and effective mechanical solutions.
• Support hands-on assembly, integration, troubleshooting, modification, and testing of prototype and experimental hardware.
• Collaborate with engineers and scientists from multiple technical disciplines to develop mechanical interfaces and integrated system solutions.
• Manage multiple engineering tasks and projects while effectively balancing technical requirements, schedules, and priorities.
• Communicate technical concepts, design decisions, and status effectively to engineering teams, project leadership, customers, and manufacturing personnel.
• Provide technical leadership for significant mechanical subsystems or projects, including establishing mechanical approaches, interfaces, and solutions for complex multidisciplinary problems.

Basic Qualifications

• BSME with 8+ years of prior relevant experience or MSME with 6+ years of prior relevant experience
• U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret security clearance
• Ability and willingness to adhere to government and company safety requirements
• Demonstrated experience developing mechanical hardware from concept through detailed design, fabrication, assembly, integration, and testing
• Proficiency with SolidWorks, including 3D part and assembly modeling and creation of detailed engineering drawings; experience with PDMWorks.
• Experience applying mechanical design principles, material selection, tolerancing, and design for manufacturability in the development of fabricated hardware.
• Ability to work independently and collaborate effectively with machinists, fabricators, technicians, engineers, and scientists.
• Demonstrated ability to develop practical solutions to complex mechanical design, fabrication, assembly, and testing problems
• Ability to manage multiple projects or engineering tasks while maintaining project schedules and priorities
• Strong written and oral communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with SolidWorks Simulation
• Application of GD&T to mechanical engineering drawings
• Design of machined, welded, sheet metal, and fabricated mechanical components and assemblies, including designs requiring multiple manufacturing processes
• Experience with prototype, low-volume, and research and development hardware
• Structural analysis of mechanical components, assemblies, and systems using analytical methods and FEA as appropriate
• Thermal and heat-transfer analysis of mechanical and electromechanical systems, including development of practical thermal management solutions
• Mechanical packaging and integration of multidisciplinary systems
• Hardware assembly, integration, testing, troubleshooting, and field operations
• Vacuum systems, vacuum hardware, and pressure vessels
• Experience with mechanical design and integration for electromagnetic, RF, high-power microwave, or pulsed-power systems
• Department of Defense or other government research and development programs
• Active DoD security clearance

About Our Team

Our Directed Energy team in Albuquerque, NM is a multidisciplinary research and development organization supporting advanced Department of Defense programs. The team includes mechanical and electrical engineers, scientists, technicians, machinists, fabricators, drafters, and other technical specialists working together to develop, build, integrate, and test advanced hardware and experimental systems.

For more than three decades, our team has partnered with government laboratories and other customers to develop, build, integrate, test, and field innovative technologies in high-power microwave, electromagnetic, pulsed-power, RF, vacuum, and other high-technology applications. Our engineers are involved throughout the hardware lifecycle, from concept development and detailed design through fabrication, assembly, integration, testing, and deployment.

This is an opportunity to work on technically challenging, low-volume and prototype hardware where mechanical engineers have a direct impact on the design and performance of the finished system.

NKE

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

September 1, 2026

Pay Range:

Pay Range $107,900.00 - $195,050.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.