Ordnance Engineer

Cowboy Space Corp.

3d•$140,000 - $200,000•Onsite

About The Position

Cowboy Space Corporation is seeking an Ordnance Engineer to own every energetic device on the vehicle, including pyro-valves, pyro-actuated mechanisms, initiators, safe-and-arm devices, and detonating trains. This role also encompasses the ground-level aspects of energetics, such as procurement, storage, shipping, handling, and personnel access. As the first hire in this discipline, the engineer will be responsible for defining the ordnance architecture, selecting and qualifying hardware, and managing the initiation chain, environmental factors, and susceptibility. This includes hazard classification, net explosive weight, explosive site plans, and compliance with ATF, DOT, and DoD regulations. The engineer will work closely with the Flight Safety System Architect and Range Safety Lead, owning the safe-and-arm device and all downstream components, as well as non-safety-critical ordnance and ground energetics. This is a hands-on role that involves developing procedures, qualifying hardware, and overseeing the installation of live initiators.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, chemical, or electrical engineering, or similar
5-10 years of experience in ordnance, pyrotechnics, or energetic systems on launch vehicles, missiles, or spacecraft
Hands-on experience taking an ordnance device or an initiation train through qualification
Working command of MIL-STD-1576 and the explosives safety regime around it: hazard classification, quantity-distance, and the DoD and ATF rules that govern energetics on the ground
Electrical fluency sufficient to argue about the firing chain: bridgewire and exploding-foil devices, no-fire and all-fire current, firing margin, ESD and RF susceptibility, and the analysis showing inadvertent initiation cannot happen
Real knowledge of energetic materials: what the common formulations do, how they age, what they are compatible with, and what temperature and vacuum do to them
Excellent written communication. Your procedures will be executed by people who are not you, on hardware that only fails once
Reusable vehicle experience: safing recovered hardware and requalifying or replacing ordnance after flight

Nice To Haves

Flight termination ordnance experience specifically: thrust termination charge design, linear shaped charge on tank structure, and the qualification evidence required for range approval
Energetic materials depth: formulation, compatibility and aging studies, or running a lot acceptance and surveillance program
Having stood up an explosives site plan, a magazine, or an ATF license from scratch
Pyroshock test and analysis experience, per NASA-STD-7003 or similar
Familiarity with SSCMAN/AFSPCMAN 91-710 and the MSPSP process from the applicant's side
Working knowledge of how these parts are actually made, and what a supplier can and cannot hold
Experience at a startup or small hardware company where the ordnance engineer also chased the parts, the license, and the procedure
Vandenberg and/or Cape Canaveral operating experience

Responsibilities

Define the ordnance architecture for the vehicle: any pyro-actuated valve or mechanism
Select, specify, and qualify the hardware: initiators and detonators, safe-and-arm and electronic safe-and-arm devices, through-bulkhead initiators, detonating cord and transfer lines, shaped charge, frangible joints, separation nuts, and pin pullers
Own the energetics side of the initiation chain: no-fire and all-fire current, firing margin, function time and margin, and the inadvertent-initiation analysis on your side of the connector
Own the environmental and susceptibility case: HERO and RF susceptibility per MIL-STD-464, ESD, bonding and grounding, thermal, vibration, and shock
Run the qualification campaigns: component-level, subsystem-level, and full-system demonstrations, with the margin and safety-factor testing that MIL-STD-1576 requires
Own hazard classification, net explosive weight, and the explosive site plan: quantity-distance arcs, siting, and the compatibility rules that constrain where things can live
Stand up storage and magazine licensing, and own ATF, DOT, and DESR 6055.09 / DoD 4145.26-M compliance for buying, storing, shipping, and handling