Senior Spacecraft Propulsion Systems Engineer II Verified today
About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems. Our Space Systems team has enabled more than 1,700 missions for civil, commercial, and defense customers including NASA, the Space Development Agency, and the U.S. Space Force. We build spacecraft, payloads, and components for missions to the Moon and Mars.
The Role
We're seeking a Senior Spacecraft Propulsion Systems Engineer II to lead our propulsion engineering team in Long Beach, CA. You will own system-level and component-level development of space systems propulsion and fluidic systems.
What You'll Do
- Own development of new or existing propulsion products and systems as technical lead
- Perform conceptual and detailed performance calculations, systems modelling, and analysis
- Gather, define, and manage requirements
- Lead systems engineering activities within the team
- Plan and execute testing including instrumentation, data collection, and analysis
- Communicate with internal and external project stakeholders
- Make technical risk-based decisions on engineering solutions
- Manage project schedules, prioritization, tasking, and status reporting
- Mentor and coach team members on technical and professional development
- Define and maintain standards of excellence through documentation, training, and review
- Contribute to engineering process development at Rocket Lab
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in engineering (aerospace, mechanical, mechatronics, or other technical discipline)
- 8+ years of experience in propulsion system development or other high-performance field
- US citizenship required due to program requirements
- Expertise in propulsion system modelling, static and transient analysis, and model validation using software such as Amesim, EcosimPro, Simulink, or Simscape
- Experience with end-to-end development including requirements gathering, detailed design, qualification, production, and acceptance testing
- Experience with all steps of Systems Engineering V and risk-based decision making
- Experience working on propulsion systems utilizing different storable propellants, such as electrical and chemical
Preferred Qualifications
- Demonstrated hands-on engineering skills
- Experience with Jama requirements management
- Detailed mechanical design using NX or equivalent CAD software
- Experience with GD&T and engineering drawings
- Product Lifecycle Management software experience such as Teamcenter or Windchill
- National Instruments data acquisition systems experience
- Testing and troubleshooting of flight hardware
- Python for data manipulation and post-processing
- Master's or PhD
Compensation and Benefits
Base pay range (CA only): $132,000 to $198,000 USD. Compensation includes company stock. Benefits include Employee Stock Purchase Program with 15% discount, medical plans (HMO, PPO, zero-cost HDHP with 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) with company match, subsidized EV charging, onsite fitness centers, discounted gym memberships, and employee discounts.
Work Environment
This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.