Senior Responsible Engineer (RE), Solid Missile Systems

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

Benefits offered by this job

Salary range visibility

Paid time off

Medical/dental/vision insurance

Retirement plan 401k

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

Ursa Major is seeking a Senior Responsible Engineer for Solid Missile Systems to lead SRM development across programs, directing a multidisciplinary team through design, analysis, and verification activities. The role partners with the SMS leaders to drive architecture, maturity, and production readiness while ensuring rigorous systems engineering practices.

The position emphasizes technical ownership, leadership, and coordination of design, analysis, and qualification efforts, with direct

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or related engineering discipline.
• 5+ 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.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and evolution of SRM architecture across programs, ensuring manufacturability and scalability.
• Manage product and team from concept through development and qualification activities.
• Plan and coordinate product qualification, including testing and hazards analysis.
• Oversee propulsion performance validation through analysis of mass properties, trajectories, and thermal/structural considerations.
• Drive design-for-manufacture and material selection for production readiness.
• Identify and mitigate technical and program risks with the engineering team.
• Lead customer interactions and prepare technical deliverables and reviews.

Skills

Technical leadership

Systems engineering

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Design analysis

Propulsion knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace/mechanical or related engineering

Master’s degree in aerospace 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 significant a 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 – Manages 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 – Plans and coordinates 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 – Works 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 – Ensures 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 – Supports customer engagement, taking the lead on scheduled technical interchanges and technical discussions. Develops content and manages team inputs for customer deliverables. Leads presentations efforts for CoDR, PDR, CDR, post‑test data reports etc… Works 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. Champions design discipline, test data correlation, anomaly resolution, and lessons learned integration.

Other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or related engineering discipline
• 5+ 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. What we can’t quantify for you are the exciting challenges, supportive team, and amazing culture we enjoy.

Classification: Full-time Exempt

Benefits Include:

• 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

NOTE:

Research suggests that women and BIPOC individuals may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage anyone who believes they have the skills and the drive necessary to succeed here to apply for this role.

Must be a U.S. Person (this includes U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents).

Eligibility 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.

No outside recruiters, please.