Mechanical Design Engineer III, High-Speed Rotating Systems

Blue Origin • Southgate, WA

3d

About The Position

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of the Blue Origin Engines business unit, where our focus is the design, development, manufacturing, and testing of engines and propulsion systems. Built for multiple uses, our family of engines is powering the next generation of rockets for commercial, civil, national security, and human spaceflight. The Role We are seeking a Mechanical Design Engineer to join our team. The core challenge is achieving rotational performance at a scale and speed that has not been demonstrated before. This is a hands-on detailed design role built for someone who thrives in rapid development cycles. You will design, build, test, learn, and redesign — repeat. Success is measured by hardware on the test stand and data in hand, not by documents alone.

Requirements

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering or closely related field.
• 3+ years of experience in mechanical design of rotating machinery.
• Demonstrated understanding of rotor structural mechanics, including centrifugal loading, retention design, and fit/preload strategies for components with thermal sensitivity.
• Proficiency with 3D CAD (CREO, NX, CATIA, SolidWorks, or equivalent) and drawing/GD&T per ASME Y14.5.
• Experience authoring and executing hardware test plans and participating hands-on in test operations.
• Experience with design for manufacturing and design to cost.
• Comfortable with fast iteration: designing to 80%, building hardware, learning from data, and rapidly incorporating findings.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

• Experience designing integrated cooling features within rotating assemblies — internal flow passages, thermal interfaces, or conduction paths under rotation.
• Familiarity with high and low-cycle fatigue and fracture mechanics for rotating components operating at high peripheral velocities.
• Experience with composite or advanced alloy materials in high-stress rotating environments.
• Background in rapid hardware development programs with short design-build-test cycles and frequent design updates.
• Rotor dynamics experience — critical speed analysis, unbalance response, bearing load estimation.

Responsibilities

• Own detailed mechanical design of a high-speed rotor assembly including structural members, retention features, balance provisions, and thermal management.
• Develop and iterate thermal management solutions.
• Understand thermal and structural loads on the rotor; translate those into design requirements and geometry constraints.
• Author drawings, GD&T, assembly procedures, and acceptance criteria with sufficient rigor to build and test hardware quickly.
• Define and execute component- and system-level test plans; be present for test operations, teardowns, and inspection.
• Drive rapid design-build-test cycles — identify failure modes early, propose trades, and execute changes fast.
• Coordinate with manufacturing and supply chain to produce hardware on aggressive schedules and rates without sacrificing structural or thermal integrity.
• Participate in failure investigations and contribute to root cause analysis and corrective action.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level