Senior Responsible Engineer (RE), Solid Missile Systems

Ursa Major; Galeton (CO); On-site; USD 118,000 - 147,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Parental and adoptive leave

Medical, dental, vision insurance

HSA/FSA

401k with company match

Equity grants

Job summary

Ursa Major seeks a Senior Responsible Engineer for Solid Missile Systems to lead SRM architecture, drive product maturity, and coordinate multi-disciplinary teams through design, analysis, and qualification. You will manage risk, ensure producible concepts, and coordinate with customers and program managers to deliver production-ready hardware.

The role requires a BS in aerospace or mechanical engineering, 7+ years in propulsion or aerospace development, and strong leadership in cross-functional

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, or related engineering discipline.
• 7+ years of propulsion or aerospace product development experience, including solid rocket motor design and systems integration.
• Demonstrated technical leadership across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Experience with SRM-specific subsystems including cases, nozzles, insulation, and grain design.
• Strong systems thinking and ability to balance performance, reliability, cost, and manufacturability.

Responsibilities

• Product Architecture – Own the SRM architecture across programs and ensure manufacturability and scalability.
• Product Maturity – Manage product teams from concept to development and launch.
• Product Qualification – Plan and coordinate design-for-qualification activities and testing.
• Product Engineering Analysis – Oversee analyses for propulsion performance, mass properties, and thermal/structural margins.
• Production-Readiness – Ensure design-for-manufacture and cost considerations.
• Product Risk Strategy – Identify and mitigate technical and program risks with modeling and testing.
• Secondary Customer Interaction – Lead technical interchanges and prepare customer deliverables.

Skills

Technical leadership

Systems engineering

SRM design

Risk analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering

Master's degree in aerospace engineering or related field

Tools

Digital engineering tools

Modeling & simulation

FEA

Job description

The future of aerospace and defense starts here. Ursa Major was founded to revolutionize how America and its allies access and apply high-performance propulsion, from hypersonics to solid rocket motors, satellite maneuvering and launch. We design and deliver propulsion and defense systems that solve the most urgent and critical national security demands.

The Senior Responsible Engineer (RE) for Solid Missile Systems (SMS) serves as the program’s technical lead, directing a multidisciplinary team of design, systems, analysis, and manufacturing engineers through all phases of SRM development and deployment. In coordination with the Program Manager and under the authority of the SRM Chief Engineer, the RE establishes and manages product architecture, ensures disciplined application of systems engineering practices, and drives design maturity, analytical fidelity, and risk reduction. Core responsibilities include performing and delegating detailed design and analysis tasks, coordinating special studies, and overseeing material characterization, subsystem qualification, and full system‑level qualification and verification. The RE also partners with SMS leaders across all disciplines to plan and execute ballistic, thermal, and structural analyses, as well as post‑test data reduction and correlation, to validate performance and enable transition to production‑ready hardware.

This role is highly self‑driven with a significant requirement for leadership and delegation abilities. The RE will be the product and program technical owner, making key decisions for both to drive successful product development and program technical execution.

Responsibilities

• Product Architecture – Own the design and evolution of SRM architecture across programs. Ensure alignment with performance objectives, manufacturability, reusability, integration, and scalability. Lead/delegate design trade studies and down‑selects.
• Product Maturity – Manage product and product team from concept through development and technical advancement, organizing iterative design, build and test campaigns to promote technical and manufacturing maturity.
• Product Qualification – Plan and coordinate activities leading to product qualification, including design‑for‑qualification; systems engineering and requirements streamlining for qualification activities, qualification testing, insensitive munitions testing, hazards analysis testing.
• Product Engineering Analysis – Work with multi‑disciplinary leaders to organize and task out all needed analysis to validate propulsion performance. Oversee mass properties, trajectory coupling, thermal management, and structural margin assessments.
• Production‑Readiness – Ensure best practices for design‑for‑manufacture, including material selection, assembly considerations, and overall unit cost.
• Product Risk Strategy – Work with the Chief Engineer and Systems Engineering team to identify and manage technical and program risks; develop mitigation strategies through modeling, testing, and early‑stage prototyping.
• Secondary Customer Interaction – Support customer engagement, taking the lead on scheduled technical interchanges and technical discussions. Develop content and manage team inputs for customer deliverables. Lead presentation efforts for CoDR, PDR, CDR, post‑test data reports, etc. Work in tandem with the Program Manager and Chief Engineer to ensure all deliverables and milestones are met on time and with high engineering rigor.
• Product Integrity – Ensure the technical rigor, safety, and quality of SRM products from clean sheet to production‑ready status. Champion design discipline, test data correlation, anomaly resolution, and lessons learned integration.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or related engineering discipline
• 7+ years of experience in propulsion or aerospace product development, including solid rocket motor design and systems integration.
• Demonstrated technical leadership across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Experience with SRM‑specific subsystems including cases, nozzles, insulation, and grain design.
• Strong systems thinking and ability to balance performance, reliability, cost, and manufacturability.

Preferred Experience

• Master’s degree in aerospace engineering or related field.
• Direct customer interaction with government and defense contractors.
• Hands‑on experience with testing and qualification of solid propulsion systems.
• Familiarity with modern digital engineering tools, modeling & simulation, and FEA.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and grow technical teams.

Colorado law requires us to tell you the base compensation range of this role, which is $118,000 - $147,000, determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Benefits

• Unlimited PTO – Vacation, Sick, Personal, and Bereavement
• Paid Parental and Adoptive Leave
• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance
• Tax Advantage Accounts (HSA/FSA)
• Employer Paid Short and Long Term Disability, Basic Life, AD&D
• Additional Benefit Options Including Voluntary Life and Emergency Medical Transport
• EAP Program
• Retirement Savings Plan – 401k with Company Match
• Equity Grants in the Company

Must be a U.S. Person (this includes U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents). Eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance.

We’re an equal‑opportunity employer. You will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.