Founding Propulsion Engineer

Graviron Aerospace•San Francisco, CA

31d•$120,000 - $160,000•Remote

About The Position

Graviron Aerospace is building the next generation of reusable autonomous orbital vehicles for post-launch space services. Our first platform, Orbit Keeper, is designed to support inspection, servicing, orbital relocation, hosted payload missions, and other in-space operations. Our long-term vision is to build scalable space logistics infrastructure that makes operating in orbit more accessible, flexible, and cost-effective. We're an aerospace & space logistics company building from first principles. At this stage, every person we bring onto the team has a meaningful impact on the technical direction, engineering culture, and future of the company. We're looking for a Founding Propulsion Engineer to take ownership of one of the most critical parts of the Orbit Keeper architecture: how the vehicle moves through space. As the Founding Propulsion Engineer, you'll work directly with the Founder and our Space Systems Engineering team to develop the propulsion architecture for Orbit Keeper. This is an early, high-ownership engineering role. You'll help answer fundamental questions about the vehicle's maneuvering capabilities, including its Δv requirements, propulsion architecture, propellant budget, thrust requirements, mass allocation, power consumption, and operational constraints. You'll work across the full propulsion development lifecycle — from mission analysis and architecture trades through subsystem definition, component selection, integration, testing, and eventually flight hardware. You won't be joining an established propulsion department with predefined requirements and mature hardware. You'll help define what that department becomes. This role is ideal for an engineer who enjoys working from first principles, is comfortable with incomplete information, and wants significant ownership over a spacecraft propulsion subsystem from its earliest stages.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, astronautical engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
2+ years of relevant professional, research, or project experience in spacecraft propulsion, aerospace propulsion, fluid systems, orbital systems, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated understanding of spacecraft propulsion fundamentals, including Δv, thrust, specific impulse, propellant mass, and propulsion system sizing.
Experience performing engineering analysis, modeling, simulation, or trade studies.
Experience working with at least one engineering analysis environment such as Python, MATLAB, Simulink, or a comparable tool.
Strong understanding of engineering fundamentals in areas such as fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, or orbital mechanics.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work independently and take ownership of technically ambiguous problems.
Highly analytical and comfortable solving problems from first principles.
Comfortable working with spacecraft propulsion, orbital mechanics, and vehicle-level performance requirements.
Able to move between high-level architecture and detailed engineering analysis.
Comfortable making engineering decisions with incomplete information.
Strong at identifying assumptions and understanding how they affect system-level conclusions.
Naturally curious and willing to challenge existing assumptions.
Comfortable taking ownership of a subsystem rather than waiting for detailed instructions.
Able to communicate technical decisions clearly and defend them with engineering reasoning.
Comfortable working across multiple engineering disciplines.
Excited by the opportunity to build something from the earliest stages rather than joining an established program.
Willing to get hands-on when the program transitions from analysis into hardware development and testing.
Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States or otherwise be eligible for employment under the applicable requirements for this position.

Nice To Haves

Experience developing or operating spacecraft propulsion systems.
Experience with chemical, electric, cold-gas, green monopropellant, or other spacecraft propulsion technologies.
Experience developing spacecraft Δv and propellant budgets.
Experience with orbital mechanics, mission analysis, or trajectory simulation.
Experience with propulsion component sizing and selection.
Experience with tanks, pressurized systems, fluid systems, valves, regulators, feed systems, or related hardware.
Experience designing, building, integrating, or testing aerospace hardware.
Experience working with propulsion vendors or external manufacturing partners.
Experience with CAD and mechanical design.
Experience with spacecraft GNC interfaces.
Experience developing engineering tools in Python or MATLAB.
Experience taking hardware from concept through prototype or test.
Familiarity with aerospace engineering standards, verification processes, and technical documentation.
Experience working at an early-stage aerospace, space, robotics, or other hard-tech startup.
Master's degree or higher in aerospace, astronautical, mechanical engineering, or a related discipline.

Responsibilities

Own the development and maintenance of Orbit Keeper's propulsion architecture.
Develop and maintain mission-level Δv budgets across relevant mission profiles.
Translate mission requirements into propulsion subsystem requirements.
Analyze maneuver requirements including orbital transfer, rendezvous, proximity operations, relocation, and other post-launch service scenarios.
Establish propulsion performance requirements including thrust, specific impulse, total impulse, propellant mass, burn duration, duty cycle, and operational constraints.
Perform propulsion architecture trade studies across applicable technologies and system configurations.
Evaluate propulsion architectures against vehicle-level constraints including mass, volume, power, thermal environment, cost, reliability, and mission lifetime.
Identify key technical risks, assumptions, and technology gaps within the propulsion subsystem.
Work with the Space Systems Engineering team to maintain consistency between propulsion requirements and the overall vehicle architecture.
Perform preliminary propulsion system sizing and analysis.
Develop propellant mass budgets and propulsion mass allocations.
Evaluate thruster configuration, tankage, feed systems, valves, regulators, lines, sensors, and other relevant subsystem components.
Analyze propulsion subsystem interfaces with structures, thermal, avionics, power, flight software, GNC, and other spacecraft systems.
Support spacecraft configuration studies including center-of-mass considerations, plume effects, component placement, and mechanical accommodation.
Develop preliminary propulsion subsystem layouts and architecture concepts.
Establish engineering models and analysis tools to support propulsion design decisions.
Use Python, MATLAB, or comparable engineering tools for analysis, modeling, simulation, and data reduction.
Identify and evaluate propulsion components, COTS solutions, vendors, and potential development partners.
Perform technical comparisons of available propulsion technologies and components.
Communicate technical requirements to external suppliers and propulsion vendors.
Review vendor specifications, analyses, test data, qualification information, and technical documentation.
Identify opportunities to leverage existing flight-proven or commercially available technologies where appropriate.
Support procurement and technical evaluation of propulsion hardware as the program progresses.
Define propulsion subsystem verification and validation requirements.
Develop preliminary development, qualification, acceptance, and integration test plans.
Support propulsion component and subsystem testing.
Develop test procedures, instrumentation requirements, and data-analysis methods.
Participate directly in hardware development, integration, troubleshooting, and test activities as the program transitions toward physical development.
Work with manufacturing and external suppliers to improve designs for manufacturability, integration, reliability, and cost.
Help establish the propulsion development and test infrastructure required for Orbit Keeper.
Document test results, lessons learned, design changes, and engineering decisions.
Work closely with the Founding Space Systems Engineer to integrate propulsion into the broader spacecraft architecture.
Collaborate with GNC engineers on maneuver requirements, control authority, thrust profiles, and propulsion operating modes.
Work with mechanical and structures engineers on tanks, mounting, load paths, vibration, and component accommodation.
Work with avionics and electrical engineers on sensors, valves, actuators, power requirements, and telemetry.
Work with thermal engineers on heat rejection, thermal environments, and propulsion-related thermal constraints.
Participate in system-level design reviews and architecture decisions.
Maintain clear technical documentation, assumptions, requirements, analyses, and interface definitions.
Communicate complex propulsion concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical members of the team.
Reviewing the current Orbit Keeper mission architecture and propulsion assumptions.
Establishing a structured mission Δv budget across priority mission profiles.
Building preliminary propulsion mass, propellant, power, and performance budgets.
Identifying the major propulsion architecture options applicable to Orbit Keeper.
Conducting an initial propulsion trade study and documenting the underlying assumptions.
Defining preliminary propulsion subsystem requirements and key interfaces.
Identifying major technical risks and unknowns that need to be resolved.
Evaluating relevant propulsion technologies, components, vendors, and development pathways.
Establishing an initial propulsion development and testing roadmap.
Building or improving internal analysis tools for mission and propulsion modeling.
Working with the Space Systems Engineering team to close major vehicle-level architecture questions.
Presenting your findings and recommendations to the Founder & CEO and engineering team.
Help build infrastructure for a future where space logistics becomes a scalable service.
Help establish the foundation for Graviron's future propulsion organization.