Propulsion Hardware Integration Engineer

Telemetry Today LLC; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Apex

Company-paid healthcare

PTO and holidays

401(k) match

Parental leave

Lunch and snacks

Office Playa Vista

Impactful work

Job summary

Apex Technology, Inc. is seeking a Propulsion Engineer to lead mechanical design of propulsion modules for our spacecraft at Playa Vista.

You will own the module structure, mounting interfaces, and integration with thrusters, PPUs, and flow controllers, collaborating closely with in-house teams from concept through build, test, and production. You will perform hand calculations and FEA, design for manufacturability, and work with manufacturing to resolve build and integration issues on the

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering field.
• 3+ years of relevant mechanical or aerospace engineering experience, with experience in structural design and hardware installation/integration.
• Strong understanding of structural design and analysis, including load paths, strength and stiffness, fasteners and joints, tolerance stack-ups, hand calculations, and FEA.
• Experience designing aerospace or other complex hardware to structural and environmental requirements, including vibration, shock, and thermal environments.
• Experience integrating discrete components, such as propulsion, avionics, fluidic, or other hardware, into structural assemblies.
• Proficiency with CAD, engineering drawings, and GD&T, with experience taking designs through release, build, and test.
• Experience working with manufacturing or production teams to transition designs into hardware and resolve build and integration issues.
• Ability to make sound engineering trades across performance, mass, cost, manufacturability, and schedule.
• Ability to communicate clearly and work cross-functionally across engineering, manufacturing, and production teams.
• Must be a U.S. Person (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual) as defined by ITAR (22 CFR §120.15).

Responsibilities

• Own mechanical designs for propulsion modules, including module structures, mounting interfaces, and the installation of flow controllers, PPUs, thrusters, and other propulsion hardware.
• Design module structures to meet vehicle-level structural and environmental requirements, including launch loads, vibration, shock, and thermal environments, while conforming to vehicle ICDs.
• Define mechanical, thermal, and structural interfaces between propulsion components and the module, and between the module and spacecraft.
• Partner with Apex's in-house thruster, cathode, flow controller, and PPU teams to optimize component mounting, packaging, and interfaces.
• Perform structural analysis, including hand calculations and FEA, to verify strength, stiffness, and margins.
• Design against mass, cost, and power budgets and support engineering trades across competing requirements.
• Design for manufacturing and assembly to ensure modules are buildable, repeatable, and installable at rate.
• Work directly with manufacturing and production teams during first builds and resolve design and integration issues on the floor.
• Incorporate manufacturing feedback into design iterations to improve producibility, yield, and build time.
• Create and own component and assembly drawings, tolerance stack-ups, fastening and torque specifications, and installation work instructions.
• Support the build, integration, and test of flight hardware and contribute to anomaly resolution and root-cause investigations.
• Contribute to continuous design improvements across module generations as production scales.

Skills

CAD

GD&T

FEA

Structural design

Hardware integration

Engineering communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering field

Tools

CAD software

FEA software

Job description

Apex Technology, Inc. is seeking a Propulsion Engineer to lead mechanical design of propulsion modules for our spacecraft at Playa Vista.

You will own the module structure, mounting interfaces, and integration with thrusters, PPUs, and flow controllers, collaborating closely with in-house teams from concept through build, test, and production. You will perform hand calculations and FEA, design for manufacturability, and work with manufacturing to resolve build and integration issues on the