Senior Electric Propellant Pump Engineer

Nickerson Talent Solutions; California; On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Nickerson Talent Solutions seeks a Senior Turbopump Engineer (Electric Pumps) to lead the development of electric propellant pumps for our liquid rocket engines. You will report to the CTO and play a pivotal role on the propulsion team.

You will own the e-pumps end-to-end, from sizing and analysis through detailed mechanical design, manufacturing, component testing, engine integration, and flight hardware. This is a deeply hands-on role at our Orange, CA shop.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of direct experience developing rocket-engine cryogenic propellant pumps, turbopumps, or closely related high-speed pump machinery.
• Strong understanding of centrifugal pump design and high-speed rotating machinery, including shafts, bearings, seals, balancing, and rotordynamics.
• Demonstrated experience taking pump hardware from analysis through detailed design, manufacturing, assembly, and testing.
• Experience designing precision mechanical hardware using CAD (Siemens NX) and an understanding of relevant power electronics.
• Must be a US Person under ITAR - company will not sponsor visas for this role.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of the company's electric propellant pumps (e-pumps).
• Own pump hardware from initial architecture and sizing through manufacturing, testing, integration, and flight.
• Design centrifugal pump components including impellers, inducers, volutes, housings, shafts, bearings, and seals.
• Perform rotordynamic, structural, and thermal analysis of high-speed rotating assemblies.
• Define pump operating conditions, performance requirements, margins, and interfaces with the engine.
• Integrate electric motors, shafts, bearings, seals, and pump assemblies into a complete e-pump system.
• Work directly with manufacturing engineers, machine shops, and suppliers to produce development and flight hardware.
• Develop drawings, tolerances, material selections, and manufacturing processes for precision rotating hardware.
• Plan and execute pump component and system-level test campaigns.
• Instrument hardware and interpret pressure, flow, vibration, temperature, torque, current, voltage, and rotational-speed data.
• Diagnose test failures and performance discrepancies and rapidly iterate the design.
• Support integration of the pump into complete rocket engines and propulsion systems.
• Own pump technical risks through design reviews and test-readiness reviews.
• Work in person with the team at the shop in Orange, CA

Skills

Cryogenic pumps

Rotordynamics

Pumps design

Power electronics understanding

Tools

Siemens NX

Job description

Nickerson Talent Solutions seeks a Senior Turbopump Engineer (Electric Pumps) to lead the development of electric propellant pumps for our liquid rocket engines. You will report to the CTO and play a pivotal role on the propulsion team.

You will own the e-pumps end-to-end, from sizing and analysis through detailed mechanical design, manufacturing, component testing, engine integration, and flight hardware. This is a deeply hands-on role at our Orange, CA shop.