Senior Spacecraft Propulsion Engineer — Lead End-to-End Systems

Rocket Lab USA; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 132,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with company match

Equity / stock purchase program

Onsite gym

Job summary

Rocket Lab USA is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Propulsion Systems Engineer II to join our Long Beach, CA team. You will own system-level propulsion development for civil, commercial, and defense programs, leading end-to-end design, analysis, testing, and integration of high-performance space propulsion hardware.

You will mentor engineers, drive risk-based decisions, and coordinate with stakeholders to deliver robust solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering (aerospace, mechanical, mechatronics)
• 8+ years propulsion system development experience
• US citizenship required
• Expertise in propulsion system modelling and validation with test data software
• End-to-end development experience across requirements, design, qualification, production, testing
• Experience with Systems Engineering V and risk-based decision making
• Experience with propulsion systems utilizing different storable propellants

Responsibilities

• Own development of new or existing propulsion products and act as technical lead
• Perform system-level and component-level propulsion calculations and designs
• Gather, define, and manage requirements
• Lead systems engineering activities within the team
• Plan tests, setup instrumentation, execute tests, and analyze data
• Communicate with stakeholders inside and outside the team
• Make risk-based decisions to select best technical solution
• Support project management and scheduling with leadership updates
• Mentor engineers and foster technical development
• Contribute to engineering process documentation and standards

Skills

Propulsion system modelling

Static & transient analysis

End-to-end development

Systems Engineering

Risk-based decision making

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering (aerospace/ME/Mechatronics)

Tools

Amesim

EcosimPro

Simulink

Simscape

Job description

Rocket Lab USA is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Propulsion Systems Engineer II to join our Long Beach, CA team. You will own system-level propulsion development for civil, commercial, and defense programs, leading end-to-end design, analysis, testing, and integration of high-performance space propulsion hardware.

You will mentor engineers, drive risk-based decisions, and coordinate with stakeholders to deliver robust solutions.