Senior Electric Propulsion Engineer & Systems Lead

Rocket Lab; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 162,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

EV charging subsidy

Onsite fitness centers

Employee merch discount

Stock purchase program

Paid vacation and holidays

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Principal Electric Propulsion Engineer to lead system-level propulsion development and drive end-to-end design, modelling, testing, and verification for space systems. You will own technical leadership across civil, commercial, and defense programs within the Space Systems team.

We value deep expertise in propulsion modelling, systems engineering, and data-driven decision making, with U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain a security clearance.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in propulsion system development or equivalent.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (aerospace, mechanical, mechatronics).
• Expertise in propulsion modeling and validation with test data (Amesim/EcosimPro/Simulink/Simscape).
• Experience with end-to-end development including design, qualification, and production.
• Strong systems engineering skills and risk-based decision making.
• Experience with electric propulsion systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end propulsion development and be technical lead.
• Perform performance calculations, modelling, and design.
• Gather, define, and manage requirements.
• Provide systems engineering leadership within the team.
• Plan tests, set up instrumentation, and analyze data.
• Communicate with internal and external stakeholders.
• Make risk-based technical decisions.
• Manage project schedule and priorities, reporting to leadership.
• Mentor engineers and coach team members.
• Contribute to engineering processes and documentation.

Skills

Propulsion engineering

System modeling

Requirements management

Systems engineering

Technical leadership

Python data processing

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Amesim

EcosimPro

Simulink

Simscape

Jama

NX CAD

Teamcenter/Windchill

National Instruments

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Principal Electric Propulsion Engineer to lead system-level propulsion development and drive end-to-end design, modelling, testing, and verification for space systems. You will own technical leadership across civil, commercial, and defense programs within the Space Systems team.

We value deep expertise in propulsion modelling, systems engineering, and data-driven decision making, with U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain a security clearance.