Business Development Engineer I

Rocket Lab•Littleton, CO

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Rocket Lab’s Business Development Engineer I is an early-career role based at its Littleton, Colorado site, supporting growth of the HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) business and pursuit of opportunities addressing national hypersonic test and evaluation needs. As part of the Global Launch Services Business Development team, the engineer works with experienced colleagues and collaborates across Engineering, Mission Management, Production, Communications, and other teams. The position reports directly to the Director of Business Development, HASTE. The role supports opportunity identification, market and competitive analysis, capture and proposal activities, and development of mission concepts and business cases. It also contributes to customer-facing technical responses and documentation, operational planning for future missions, and business development reporting. The position may involve prolonged sitting, standing, walking, and computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or another technical discipline.
Professional or internship experience in an engineering role within the aerospace, defense, or national security industries.
U.S. citizenship is required due to program requirements.
Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Experience or academic exposure to the design, manufacturing, integration, or testing of hypersonic systems, payloads, or flight vehicles.
Experience with hypersonic systems, flight testing, or launch vehicles.
Familiarity with hypersonic flight testing, missile defense, suborbital launch, or related national security markets.
Experience working on fast-paced engineering programs with geographically distributed or cross-functional teams.
Master’s degree in aerospace engineering or a related engineering discipline, such as mechanical, electrical, or computer engineering.
Experience with Python scripting, trajectory generation, or trajectory analysis.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Curiosity and enthusiasm for aerospace, hypersonics, and national security applications.
Strong organizational and problem-solving skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities and work independently when needed.
Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and colleagues with diverse technical backgrounds and expertise.
Ability to understand complex technical concepts and communicate them clearly and concisely to technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

Draft proposals for new business opportunities with Business Development and Engineering teams.
Track opportunities, analyze pipeline activity, and forecast demand for HASTE capabilities.
Coordinate with Engineering to assess mission requirements and prepare timely technical responses to HASTE capability inquiries.
Work with Production and Engineering to establish realistic NRE timelines and launch dates for future missions.
Maintain and improve HASTE marketing materials, data sheets, and user guides with Communications and Business Development.
Work with Engineering to identify technical gaps and improve and standardize customer-facing technical documentation.
Use internal tools, including Salesforce, to track leads, opportunities, and proposals and support reporting and KPI development.
Support business development activities related to launch service agreements, technical assistance agreements, and non-disclosure agreements; create, track, and prioritize Jira tickets.
Build and maintain knowledge of suborbital launch and hypersonic test markets, competitive capabilities, customer demand, and emerging trends to support sales forecasting, pricing strategy, business planning, and HASTE product development.