Electric Propulsion Engineer, Mechanical (Starshield)

United States Digital Space LLC; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking an Electric Propulsion Engineer, Mechanical (Starshield) to join a collaborative engineering team designing, analyzing, building and testing flight-qualified propulsion systems for in-space constellations.

You will own end-to-end hardware—from design through production support and qualification—while meeting stringent flight reliability requirements; the role involves working with technicians, engineers and managers in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, physics or related engineering.
• 3+ years designing, testing, and analyzing electric propulsion systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, analyze, test, and support production of spaceflight electric propulsion hardware.
• Collaborate with manufacturing to enable high-rate production.
• Build, operate and troubleshoot propulsion test facilities and data systems.
• Analyze test data to inform design decisions.
• Lead root-cause investigations and component redesigns.
• Develop qualification test plans for flight readiness.
• Trade off cost, lead time, reliability, and performance for mission targets.
• Own spaceflight hardware end-to-end with cross-functional teams.
• Communicate clearly under ambiguity and elevate risks early.

Skills

Propulsion design

Numerical analysis

Python

MATLAB

Test & qualification

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, physics, or related engineering

Tools

Python

MATLAB

Job description

the company was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today the company is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

ELECTRIC PROPULSION ENGINEER, MECHANICAL(STARSHIELD)

Starshieldleverages the company's Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use,Starshieldis designed for government use, withan initialfocus on earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads.
the company is hiring an Electric Propulsion Engineer to join a collaborative engineering team working on design, analysis, build, and test of flight-qualified satellite electric propulsion systems for in-space constellations. In this role you will contribute end-to-end hardware ownership—from design through production support and qualification for propulsion systems that must meet demanding flight reliability requirements through iterative design, test, and refinement.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design, analyze, test, and provide operational support for high-volume production spacecraftelectricpropulsion hardware
• Partner with manufacturing to ensure designs enable efficient, reliable, high-rate production
• Design, build,modify, operate, and troubleshoot electric propulsion test facilities, including vacuum chambers,pressure systems,cryogenic pumps, data acquisition and control systems, and associated instrumentation
• Analyze and review test datawithnumericaltools to confirm hardware isoperatingas expected and inform design decisions
• Lead root-cause investigations andcomponentredesigns to improve reliability and/or production rates
• Develop and execute qualification test plans for flight readiness (vibration, shock, thermal cycle, life cycle, fault injection)
• Make rigorous, risk-informed trades across cost, lead time, reliability, and performance to meetprogram reliability targets for mission-critical flight hardware
• Own critical spaceflight hardware end-to-end, with support from manufacturing, reliability, test, and operationsteams
• Workasan integrated team,with daily interactions among technicians, engineers, and managers;identifyand implement design and process improvements
• Communicate clearly under ambiguity, elevate technical and schedule risks early, and collaborate through disagreement

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, physics, or other engineering discipline
• 3+ years of total experience in one or a combination of the following: professional experience designing, testing, and analyzing electric propulsion systems; or related spacecraft propulsion, fluid, pressure, plasma, or thruster-adjacent hardware experience (e.g., thermal, structural, power, or diagnostics for EP/plasma systems)

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Demonstrated delivery ofhardwareforhigh-reliability or safety-critical use
• Working knowledge ofstructural design, materialsproperties,thermodynamics, fluid/pressure/vacuumsystems,andnumerical analysisprogramming(e.g.,Python, MATLAB); plasma physics as applicable(depth in several of these areas is valued; mastery of all is notexpected)
• Experienceprioritizingconcurrent design, build, and test work against flight and production milestones
• Clear documentation habits and attention to detail appropriate for flight hardware
• Track record of improving designs and processes for reliability, rate, or quality
• Active Top Secret or Top Secret/SCI clearance, or ability and willingness to obtain aTop Secretclearance, is desired but not required