Senior Spacecraft Propulsion Components Engineer II

Rocket Lab Corporation•Long Beach, CA

15h•$132,000 - $198,000

About The Position

Rocket Lab is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Propulsion Components Engineer II to join its propulsion engineering team in Long Beach, California. The position owns system- and component-level development of propulsion and fluidic systems supporting the Space Systems division and programs for civil, commercial, and defense customers. The engineer acts as a technical lead throughout product and system development, from design through qualification, production, and acceptance testing, and contributes to engineering processes and standards.

Requirements

At least 8 years of experience in propulsion system development or an equivalent high-performance field.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, such as aerospace, mechanical, mechatronics, or another technical engineering discipline.
Detailed mechanical design experience using NX or equivalent industry-standard CAD software, and Product Lifecycle Management software such as Teamcenter, Windchill, or similar.
Track record of design reviews and approving release of flight parts, qualification reports, and decisions for flight hardware.
Experience with the end-to-end development process, including requirements gathering, detailed design, qualification, production, and acceptance testing.
Excellent communication skills and ability to work well within a team environment.
Hands-on integration and testing experience, ideally using National Instruments equipment and software.
Experience working on propulsion systems using different storable propellants, including electrical and chemical systems.
U.S. citizenship and willingness to obtain a security clearance are required due to program requirements.

Nice To Haves

Genuine passion for engineering, a curious mindset, and willingness to learn.
Comfort working with high levels of ambiguity and making decisions using engineering principles, literature and standards, technical risk assessments, test data, and physics-based models.
Ability to identify steps needed to achieve technical goals, schedule them in a plan, and manage delivery against that plan.
Experience developing requirements and verification sets, writing test plans and reports, and performing testing.
Ability to use Python for data manipulation and post-processing.
Demonstrated hands-on engineering skills, inside or outside the workplace.
Detailed mechanical design experience using NX or equivalent industry-standard CAD software.
Experience with GD&T and engineering drawings.
Experience using Product Lifecycle Management software such as Teamcenter, Windchill, or similar.
Experience using National Instruments data acquisition systems.
Experience testing and troubleshooting flight hardware.
Master’s degree or PhD.

Responsibilities

Own development of new or existing products or systems and serve as technical lead through the end-to-end development process.
Create conceptual and detailed CAD designs for propulsion system components and perform performance calculations and analysis.
Review and approve drawings, 3D PMI, reports, and specifications produced by others.
Plan, set up, instrument, and execute tests, then analyze the resulting data.
Communicate with internal and external project stakeholders.
Make technical, risk-based decisions to select appropriate engineering solutions.
Manage projects by building and maintaining schedules, prioritizing work, assigning tasks to engineers and technicians, and communicating status to leadership and other teams.
Mentor and coach team members in technical and professional development.
Define and maintain team standards through documentation, training, coaching, and review of others’ work.
Contribute to Rocket Lab engineering process development and documentation in areas of expertise.

Benefits

Company stock as part of total compensation.
Employee Stock Purchase Program with a 15% discount on company stock.
Medical plans, including HMO, PPO, and a zero-cost HDHP option with a company HSA contribution.
Dental and vision coverage.
Paid vacation and sick time.
11 paid holidays.
Flexible spending and dependent care accounts.
Paid parental leave.
Disability and life insurance.
401(k) retirement plan with company match.
Subsidized EV charging.
Onsite fitness centers where available.
Discounted gym memberships.
Complimentary snacks and beverages.
50% employee discount on the company merchandise store and other employee discounts.