Propulsion Fluids Engineer — Valves, Feeds & Tanks

Cowboy Space Corp.; United States; On-site; USD 130,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Medical, dental & vision insurance

401(k) retirement savings plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

Daily lunch in the office

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Fluids Engineer to own a critical fluid subsystem from concept through flight.

Depending on priorities, you may focus on propulsion fluid design, vehicle feed systems, tank pressure controls, or pneumatic systems, and you'll work at the center of propulsion hardware development. This hands‑on role requires close collaboration with propulsion, structures, thermal, avionics, manufacturing, and test operations to design, build, and validate hardware through flight.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 3+ years of experience designing fluid system hardware for flight vehicles or high-performance hardware.
• Experience taking hardware from concept through build, integration, and test.
• Strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, structural mechanics, materials, and manufacturing processes.
• Experience with fluid system analysis: pressure drop and flow sizing, structural analysis of pressure vessels, or thermal-fluid modeling.
• Proficiency with CAD and creating engineering drawings to ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards.

Responsibilities

• Own your fluid subsystem from concept through design, analysis, test, and flight.
• Drive fluid component and system designs for minimum mass while meeting pressure drop, proof, burst, leakage, cycle-life, and operating-life requirements across ground, ascent, and on-orbit environments.
• Design valves, fluid routing architectures, and fluid storage hardware for propellant, pneumatic, and thermal fluid service on rocket engines and vehicle fluid systems.
• Balance performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule in every design decision.
• Perform analysis — hand calculations, FEA, tolerance stack-ups — and validate predictions with test and flight data.
• Own fluid subsystem layout and integration, ensuring compatibility across propulsion, thermal, and pneumatic systems.
• Define and execute qualification and acceptance test campaigns; author procedures, acceptance criteria, and anomaly dispositions.
• Develop and maintain engineering drawings, models, specifications, interface control documents, and release documentation.
• Work directly on the factory floor with manufacturing and technicians to iterate quickly and resolve build issues in real time.
• Troubleshoot hardware anomalies, perform root cause analysis, and implement design improvements.
• Support engine and vehicle integration, hot-fire and fill/drain operations, ground system interfaces, post-test inspection, and refurbishment planning.

Skills

Hardware integration

Fluid mechanics

Thermodynamics

Heat transfer

Structural mechanics

Manufacturing processes

Fluid system analysis

CAD & drafting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field

Tools

CAD (NX/ SolidWorks/CATIA/Creo)

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Fluids Engineer to own a critical fluid subsystem from concept through flight.

Depending on priorities, you may focus on propulsion fluid design, vehicle feed systems, tank pressure controls, or pneumatic systems, and you'll work at the center of propulsion hardware development. This hands‑on role requires close collaboration with propulsion, structures, thermal, avionics, manufacturing, and test operations to design, build, and validate hardware through flight.