Principal Propulsion Engineer, Blue Thrusters

BLUE ORIGIN • Los Angeles, CA

1d • $169,624 - $237,473

About The Position

The Principal Propulsion Engineer will serve as a hands-on expert in thruster combustion devices on Blue Origin’s Blue Thrusters team, contributing to thruster development from concept through qualification and flight. The role focuses on combustion-device design, analysis, and testing, with working knowledge of the valves and propellant feed systems that control the devices. The engineer will connect injector, chamber, and valve decisions to achieve performance, stability, life, and reliability goals.

The position involves design, analysis, and test work in close collaboration with engineers, test teams, and manufacturing partners. It also includes mentoring engineers and strengthening the team’s technical work product. The role is within the Blue Origin Engines business unit, which designs, develops, manufactures, and tests engines and propulsion systems for commercial, civil, national security, and human spaceflight applications.

Requirements

• B.S. or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in liquid rocket engine or spacecraft thruster development.
• Hands-on experience designing and analyzing injectors and thrust chambers, including performance, combustion stability, and thermal analysis.
• Experience planning, conducting, and analyzing results from hot-fire testing of liquid propulsion hardware.
• Solid understanding of propellant valves, such as solenoid or pneumatically actuated valves, and how valve characteristics affect ignition, start and shutdown transients, pulsing performance, and overall thruster behavior.
• Experience supporting technical failure investigations and implementing design corrections.
• Ability to work across disciplines and make sound technical decisions with incomplete information.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with experience mentoring other engineers.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with thruster or engine hardware progressed from clean sheet through qualification and flight.
• Experience with cryogenic propellants (e.g., LOX, LNG, LH2), gaseous propellants (GOX, CNG, GH2), and liquid storable or hypergolic propellants (e.g., MMH, NTO).
• Experience with combustion stability and performance tools such as ROCCID, TDK, NASA CEA, and ROCETS, or similar.
• Experience with engine and thruster transient modeling, including startup and shutdown behavior.
• Experience with additive manufacturing, welding, and brazing for injector and chamber hardware, including design for manufacturability.
• Experience with high-frequency data analysis and building tools or databases for hot-fire data review and trending.
• Familiarity with 3D CAD (Creo preferred) and GD&T per ASME Y14.5.
• Proficiency in scripting and analysis tools such as Python.
• Experience at a fast-moving propulsion or launch vehicle developer.

Responsibilities

• Design, analyze, and develop thruster combustion devices, including injectors and chambers, focusing on performance, combustion stability, and thermal behavior.
• Contribute to thruster-level design integrating combustion devices, propellant valves, feed-system interfaces, and drive electronics.
• Perform and review performance, stability, thermal, and transient analyses, and correlate results with test data to improve designs.
• Develop a working understanding of valve capabilities and limitations, and partner with valve engineers on requirements and interface definition.
• Plan and support thruster hot-fire test campaigns, including test-article definition, instrumentation, test execution, and data review.
• Investigate anomalies and failures from root cause through corrective action using first-principles analysis.
• Drive engineering trade studies through sound analysis and clear recommendations.
• Develop and improve analysis tools and practices, including performance and stability codes, hot-fire data trending, and data-reduction and plotting tools.
• Mentor and coach engineers in injector and chamber design, analysis, hot-fire testing, and data review.
• Collaborate with systems, vehicle, electrical, software, manufacturing, and test operations teams to define interfaces and resolve integration issues early.
• Identify technical risks early and communicate them clearly to the team and leadership.
• Author and review technical reports, test plans, qualification documentation, and engineering specifications.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Basic and supplemental life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Short- and long-term disability
• 401(k) with company match of up to 5%
• Education Support Program
• Stock options for regular employees working at least 20 hours per week
• Paid time off of up to four weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours
• Up to 14 company-paid holidays
• Depending on role type and job level, potential eligibility for benefits and bonuses based on individual contributions and company results

What This Job Offers

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