Senior Development Engineer (Propulsion) - Electron Verified today
About the role
As a Senior Development Engineer in Propulsion, you own what powers Electron to orbit: engines, turbopumps, valves, injectors, and the fluid systems that feed them.
You'll take hardware from first sketch to flight-ready production. Define requirements, iterate in NX with analysis and manufacturing, own the EBOM, and release drawings that get parts built. Plan and run the test campaign that proves it works: component rigs through to hot fire. Coach the engineers who'll run the next one. Once flying, define how it's operated and maintained.
What you will do
- Set technical standards: define best practice, pick the right solution consistently, and coach the team to the same bar
- Manage risk: see it before it happens, put mitigation in place, verify it held
- Solve unsolved problems: when something stalls between teams or falls outside process, take it and bring others up as you go
- Plan at department level: distribute work across the team, define new processes and equipment that make the next engine faster
- Be the technical tiebreaker: the deciding argument is always what's best for the company
- Lead the people around you: run meetings that go somewhere, convey technical information concisely, deputise for the lead when needed
Some days you're deep in test data. Others you're on the production floor taking hard feedback from technicians, or in the development lab pushing a new concept to its limits. This is not a desk job.
What you'll bring
- 6+ years industry experience and an engineering degree
- Deep manufacturing and production understanding
- Experience taking a product from development into rate production
- Proven ability to technically steer a team across multiple engineering projects from concept through operation
- Depth in at least two of: structural analysis, vibration analysis, CFD, thermal analysis, fatigue and creep, FMEA, or root cause investigation
- Track record solving hard engineering problems; domain knowledge is the only new thing
Nice to have
- Master's or PhD
- Rocket, aerospace or automotive background
- Applied analysis: structural, modal, CFD, thermal, fatigue, DFMEA/PFMEA or DMAIC
- Experience with NX, Teamcenter, JAMA and Jira, or equivalent tools
Important information
For New Zealand positions, background checks will be undertaken prior to any employment offer. You must be eligible to access equipment and data regulated by the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). You may be ineligible if you do not hold citizenship of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the European Union, or a NATO country, or if you hold ineligible dual citizenship or nationality.