Lead Electric Propulsion Engineer for Spacecraft Systems

Outsiders Fund; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Healthcare

PTO

401(k)

Parental leave

Lunch provided

Playa Vista office

Community events

Job summary

Apex Technology, Inc. is hiring a Lead Electric Propulsion Engineer to steer the EP subsystem end‑to‑end, including Hall‑effect thrusters, cathodes, flow controllers, and PPUs.

You’ll own roadmap, performance, and production readiness while coordinating with systems, power, avionics, and manufacturing teams. The role demands hands‑on leadership, a strong propulsion background, and a track record delivering flight hardware through design, qualification, and production, in a fast‑growing

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, plasma/propulsion engineering, applied physics, or a related field.
• 10+ years of propulsion engineering experience with significant depth in electric propulsion.
• Strong technical experience with electric propulsion systems, including Hall-effect thrusters and interfaces between components.
• Demonstrated experience leading engineers and delivering flight propulsion hardware.
• Strong cross-functional communication skills across engineering, production, programs, and leadership.
• U.S. Person status per ITAR requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead, grow, and develop the electric propulsion team covering thrusters, cathodes, flow control, and PPUs.
• Own the EP subsystem roadmap and align development with production needs.
• Manage EP subsystem performance, reliability, schedule, cost, and delivery of flight hardware.
• Drive cross-component technical trades and define interfaces, margins, and requirements.
• Set EP design standards, verification strategies, and qualification plans.
• Drive design for manufacturability and testability for high-rate production.
• Collaborate with systems, avionics, power, thermal, structures, production, and quality teams.
• Own EP test and qualification strategy, including vacuum facilities and life testing.
• Lead vendor strategy and make buy/build decisions for EP hardware.
• Support launch campaigns, anomaly resolution, and root-cause investigations.

Skills

Propulsion leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Systems engineering

Problem solving

People management

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace/mechanical/electrical/plasma propulsion or related field

Tools

EP test equipment

Vacuum facilities

Subsystem integration

Job description

Apex Technology, Inc. is hiring a Lead Electric Propulsion Engineer to steer the EP subsystem end‑to‑end, including Hall‑effect thrusters, cathodes, flow controllers, and PPUs.

You’ll own roadmap, performance, and production readiness while coordinating with systems, power, avionics, and manufacturing teams. The role demands hands‑on leadership, a strong propulsion background, and a track record delivering flight hardware through design, qualification, and production, in a fast‑growing