Senior Propulsion Engineer- Components

Varda Space•El Segundo, CA

13h•Onsite

About The Position

Varda is hiring an experienced Senior Propulsion Engineer to own and develop fluid components for its W-Series satellite bus and future vehicles. The propulsion system uses high-test hydrogen peroxide and hydrocarbon bipropellant, high-pressure inert-gas pressurization, and cold-gas attitude control. Components include solenoid control valves, check valves, relief valves, burst disks, filters, regulators, service valves, machined manifolds, pressure transducers, and RTDs. The engineer will own a significant portion of the component portfolio, serving as the responsible engineer from requirements and specifications through development, qualification, production, and flight. Many components are currently purchased, making supplier technical leadership important. The role will also help bring more component design in-house by contributing to make-versus-buy decisions, detailed design, and the capabilities needed to develop, qualify, produce, acceptance-test, and fly Varda-owned hardware. This is a hands-on position on a multidisciplinary engineering team. Work includes test-stand development and operation, production-floor support, occasional supplier visits, and investigations of issues or anomalies. The engineer will inherit an operational, documented component baseline and drive improvements to component capabilities and reliability while supporting increased flight cadence. The role is on-site in El Segundo, California.

Requirements

B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent professional experience is considered.
At least 3 years of hands-on experience designing, qualifying, or owning fluid components such as valves, regulators, filters, burst disks, manifolds, or transducers for spacecraft, launch vehicles, or comparable high-pressure hardware, on the vehicle or component-supplier side.
Working understanding of component design fundamentals, including sealing, force balance, spring sizing, friction, flow paths, material compatibility, material finishes, and wear.
Mechanical design proficiency, including CAD, assembly management using PLM software, detailed drawings with GD&T per ASME Y14.5, and tolerance analysis.
Experience with component pressure and leak testing and ATP/QTP execution per SMC-S-016 or an equivalent standard, including writing procedures and establishing pass/fail criteria.
Hands-on experience building and testing pressurized hardware alongside technicians.
Demonstrated technical ownership, including driving nonconformances and anomalies to root cause and corrective action across teams and suppliers.
Willingness to travel to suppliers and test sites as needed, typically less than 10% of the time.
U.S. person status, as defined in the posting, is required because employees have access to export-controlled items.

Nice To Haves

At least 6 years of spacecraft or launch-vehicle fluid-component experience, including clean-sheet design of a valve, regulator, or similar component through qualification and flight.
Experience with low-leakage, on-orbit propulsion components and with HTP, other strong oxidizers, or high-pressure gas systems.
Component-design analysis skills, including FEA of pressure-containing parts, 1D fluid-network modeling, valve dynamics, and fatigue and fracture control.
Electromechanical and instrumentation fundamentals, including solenoid-valve coil and driver interfaces and pressure-transducer and RTD calibration, excitation, and error budgets.
Supplier management for COTS and build-to-print aerospace components, including source selection, audits, and data-package review.
Familiarity with AIAA S-080 and S-081 and AFSPCMAN 91-710 range-safety requirements.
Knowledge of precision manufacturing and inspection for fluid hardware, including machining and deburring, welding, electropolish, precision cleaning, CMM, and NDE.
Experience establishing development, qualification, and acceptance testing capabilities for propulsion components, particularly in a high-cadence, high-throughput environment.
Experience formally or informally leading a technical sub-discipline and developing engineering standards within a propulsion organization.
Exceptional technical communication skills and precision in specifications, test procedures, data-package reviews, and engineering memos.

Responsibilities

Serve as responsible engineer for a significant portion of the bus propulsion component portfolio, from requirements and specification generation through development, qualification, production, and flight, in partnership with the broader engineering team.
Design Varda-owned propulsion components, including CAD, detailed drawings with GD&T per ASME Y14.5, tolerance analysis, seal and spring design, and supporting structural and fluid analysis.
Specify, source, and qualify purchased components; lead technical supplier interactions, review qualification and acceptance data, and drive corrective action or second sourcing.
Author and execute acceptance and qualification test campaigns (ATP/QTP) per SMC-S-016; characterize performance across pressure and temperature conditions, feed results into system requirements, and document results in test reports.
Support vehicle build, integration, testing, and flight operations; disposition nonconformances and lead component issue or anomaly investigations through root cause and closure.
Represent components in design reviews, FMEAs, hazard analyses, and range-safety interactions; contribute to component knowledge bases, qualification records, and lessons learned.
Mentor engineers and help establish component design and test standards for the propulsion team.
Develop and operate test stands, support the production floor, visit suppliers as needed, and investigate issues or anomalies.