Senior Rocket Propulsion Design Lead

InvestedintheMission; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Health insurance

401(k) plan

Employee stock purchase plan

Paid time off

Job summary

SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA is seeking a Sr. Propulsion Design Engineer for Raptor engine systems to own design criteria, enforce standards, and validate performance through testing and analysis.

The role requires self-direction, hardware ownership, and strong CAD/structural design skills, with experience across development and production environments to help ensure Raptor readiness for a multiplanetary future.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering.
• 5+ years of professional experience in mechanical design with 3D CAD modeling.
• Strong communication and cross-team collaboration skills.
• Experience with propulsion hardware is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Partner with subsystem and component owners to translate top-level requirements into clear, measurable criteria at lower levels.
• Audit design documentation regularly to identify gaps, risks, and inconsistencies, and drive closure of findings.
• Review test and analysis data to confirm criteria are met and initiate follow-up actions when validation fails.
• Develop and refine department processes for design reviews (DCR, PDR, CDR) to improve efficiency and clarity of outcomes.
• Deliver periodic design health reports to leadership, highlighting issues and progress trends.
• Facilitate cross-team conflict resolution balancing technical, schedule, and program priorities.
• Champion design best practices and align teams on producibility, reliability and performance.

Skills

Mechanical design

3D CAD modeling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Tools

NX

Teamcenter

ANSYS

SQL

Job description

SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA is seeking a Sr. Propulsion Design Engineer for Raptor engine systems to own design criteria, enforce standards, and validate performance through testing and analysis.

The role requires self-direction, hardware ownership, and strong CAD/structural design skills, with experience across development and production environments to help ensure Raptor readiness for a multiplanetary future.