Systems Engineer, VAST Components Verified today

About the Role

This role supports the development and operations of New Glenn, a heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle capable of carrying people and payloads to low-Earth orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, cislunar, and beyond. Its first stage is fully reusable and was designed from the beginning to be human-capable.

VAST (Valves, Actuators, Standardization, and Technology) delivers the components that make New Glenn work: valves, regulators, quick disconnects, actuators, composite overwrap pressure vessels (COPVs) and the mechanisms around them. Your work directly reduces cost, shortens schedules, and drives commonality across every vehicle Blue flies.

As the Systems Engineer on the VAST Technology team, you will be the connective tissue between vehicle programs (GS1, GS2, GS3, Lunar, and Engines) and the component teams that serve them.

Responsibilities

• Own component-level requirements for VAST common and standard product lines, decomposing and allocating vehicle and stage requirements from all customer programs and tracing them through verification.
• Envelope requirements across multiple customers into common specifications that maximize reuse, and own the trades when one customer's need drives cost or risk for the rest of the fleet.
• Define and manage component interface control documents (ICDs) covering fluid media, pressures, flow, leakage, electrical/actuation, mechanical, and environmental interfaces.
• Own the verification approach and closure for assigned product lines: verification requirements, methods, qualification-by-similarity rationale, and evidence that requirements are met.
• Mine acceptance, qualification, nonconformance, and flight data across the VAST catalog to find fleet-wide trends such as start-of-life vs. end-of-life leakage, recurring failure modes, and cost drivers, and convert them into requirement, design, or process changes.
• Support anomaly investigations, root cause and corrective action (RCCA), and Material Review Board (MRB) disposition for VAST hardware with focus on systemic causes.
• Drive tool and process improvements that remove manual steps from requirements, verification, and data workflows.
• Help define VAST's systems engineering standards, templates, and review checklists, and mentor component engineers in requirements and verification practice.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Systems, or Chemical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5 or more years of experience in systems engineering or related field.
• Demonstrated experience developing, decomposing, allocating, and tracing requirements through verification.
• Working knowledge of interface management (ICDs/IRDs), qualification testing, and verification methods (test, analysis, inspection, similarity).
• Ability to set a technical plan and drive it to closure across multiple teams without direct authority.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present trade studies and recommendations to engineering leadership.
• Strong interpersonal skills with a track record of building trust and fostering professional collaboration.
• Passion for advancing safe human spaceflight and alignment with Blue Origin's mission.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national or U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder).

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in an engineering or technical discipline.
• 7 or more years of experience in aerospace fluids, propulsion, or component systems engineering.
• Experience on launch vehicle, spacecraft, or rocket engine programs, particularly with reusable hardware and refurbishment cycles.
• Hands-on familiarity with valves, regulators, actuators, quick disconnects, or similar fluid components, including sealing, leakage, and pressure-system behavior.
• Experience interpreting test data to assess system and component performance.
• Experience with cryogenic and high-pressure systems using oxygen, hydrogen, methane, nitrogen, or helium.
• Experience creating common or standard component specifications that serve multiple vehicles or customers.
• Experience with technology roadmapping, technology readiness level (TRL/MRL) assessment, or R&D portfolio planning.
• Experience with structured problem solving (RCCA, 8D, FMEA, fault tree analysis) and nonconformance disposition.
• Proficiency with requirements and PLM tools such as DOORS/DNG, Jama, Cameo, or Windchill, and data tools such as Python, SQL, or Databricks.
• Experience with thermo-fluid analysis tools such as Thermal Desktop (SINDA/FLUINT) or REFPROP.
• History of introducing a tool or process improvement that was adopted by others and cut manual effort or error rate.

Compensation and Benefits

Base pay range for WA applicants: $121,023.00 to $169,432.20. Other site ranges may differ.

Benefits include medical, dental, vision, 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, and stock options for all regular employees working at least 20 hours per week. Paid time off up to four weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

Application and Process

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed. Background checks required for all positions. Blue Origin requires applicants to be U.S. citizens or nationals, U.S. permanent residents, or lawfully admitted as refugees or granted asylum.