Principal Propulsion Engineer — Thruster Systems

Blue Origin LLC; Washington; On-site; USD 170,000 - 237,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Stock options

Paid time off

Educational support

Parental leave

Job summary

Blue Origin LLC is seeking a Principal Propulsion Engineer to lead design and analysis of thruster combustion devices, including injectors and chambers, guiding them from concept through qualification and flight. You will work with valve and feed-system teams, mentor engineers, and contribute to verification through tests.

The role requires deep propulsion knowledge, hands-on hot-fire experience, and strong collaboration across engineering disciplines to meet performance, stability, and

Qualifications

• B.S. or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field
• 10+ years of experience in liquid rocket engine or spacecraft thruster development
• Hands-on experience designing and analyzing injectors and thrust chambers
• Experience planning, conducting, and analyzing results from hot-fire testing of liquid propulsion hardware
• Solid understanding of propellant valves and how valve characteristics affect thruster behavior
• Experience supporting technical failure investigations and implementing design corrections
• Ability to work across disciplines and make sound technical decisions with incomplete information
• Strong communication and mentoring skills
• U.S. citizen or eligible to work in the U.S.

Responsibilities

• Design, analyze, and develop thruster combustion devices, including injectors and chambers, focusing on performance and stability
• Contribute to thruster-level design integrating combustion devices, valves, feed interfaces, and drive electronics
• Perform and review analyses and correlate with test data to improve designs
• Plan thruster hot-fire campaigns including instrumentation and data review
• Mentor engineers on injector and chamber design, analysis, and testing
• Collaborate with systems, vehicle, electrical, software, manufacturing, and test teams
• Author and review technical reports, test plans, and engineering specifications

Skills

Injector design

Chamber design

Liquid propulsion experience

Hot-fire testing

Failure investigation

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Mentoring engineers

Strong communication

Education

B.S. or higher in Aerospace Engineering/Mechanical Engineering

M.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Tools

ROCCID

TDK

NASA CEA

ROCETS

Creo CAD

GD&T ASME Y14.5

Python scripting

Job description

Blue Origin LLC is seeking a Principal Propulsion Engineer to lead design and analysis of thruster combustion devices, including injectors and chambers, guiding them from concept through qualification and flight. You will work with valve and feed-system teams, mentor engineers, and contribute to verification through tests.

The role requires deep propulsion knowledge, hands-on hot-fire experience, and strong collaboration across engineering disciplines to meet performance, stability, and