Senior Propulsion Engineer- Components

Varda Space Industries•El Segundo, CA

1d•$140,333 - $179,314•Onsite

About The Position

Varda is hiring a Senior Propulsion Engineer to own propulsion fluid components for the W-Series satellite bus and future vehicles. The W-Series propulsion system uses high-test hydrogen peroxide (HTP) and hydrocarbon bipropellant, high-pressure inert-gas pressurization, and cold-gas attitude control. Components include solenoid control valves, check valves, relief valves, burst disks, fluid filters, regulators, manually operated service valves, machined fluid manifolds, and instrumentation such as pressure transducers and RTDs. The engineer will own a significant portion of this mission-critical component portfolio, supporting requirements and specifications through development, qualification, production, and flight. The role includes serving as a technical interface to suppliers and helping transition selected components to in-house design and production by contributing to make-versus-buy decisions, detailed design, and the capabilities needed to develop, qualify, manufacture, acceptance-test, and fly Varda-owned parts. This is a hands-on role on a multidisciplinary engineering team. Work includes test-stand development and operation, production-floor support, occasional supplier visits, and investigations of issues and anomalies. The position is on-site in El Segundo, California. The role requires willingness to travel to suppliers and test sites as needed, typically less than 10% of the time. Applicants must meet the stated U.S.-person requirement for access to export-controlled items.

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 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, materials 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 authoring procedures and establishing pass/fail criteria.
Hands-on experience building and testing pressurized hardware alongside technicians.
Proven 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.
Must qualify as a U.S. person permitted to access the company's export-controlled technology without an export license.

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 standing up propulsion-component testing capabilities for development, qualification, and ATP, particularly in a high-cadence, high-throughput environment.
Prior experience leading a technical sub-discipline, formally or informally, and developing engineering standards within a propulsion organization.
Exceptional technical communication skills and precision and clarity 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; serve as a technical lead with suppliers, review qualification and acceptance data, and drive corrective action and/or second sourcing.
Author and execute acceptance and qualification test (ATP/QTP) campaigns per SMC-S-016; characterize component performance across the pressure and temperature envelope, feed results back into system requirements, and document results in test reports.
Support vehicle build, integration and test, and flight operations; disposition nonconformances and lead component issue or anomaly investigations to root cause and closure.
Represent components in design reviews, FMEAs, hazard analyses, and range safety interactions; contribute to the shared component knowledge base, qualification records, and lessons learned.
Mentor engineers and help set the component design and test standards used by the propulsion team.
Support hands-on test-stand development and operations, production-floor activities, supplier visits, and issue or anomaly investigations as needed.