Propulsion Engineer

Job summary

You will own the end-to-end design, development, and qualification of combustion system hardware including injectors, thrust chambers, and nozzles. This involves translating requirements into detailed designs and collaborating with manufacturing and test teams to ensure hardware reliability.

Job details

About the Role We are looking for a Propulsion Engineer to own the design, development, and qualification of the hardware that makes up our combustion system — injectors, thrust chambers, nozzles. This role is focused on deep, hands-on component ownership: taking a component from requirements and first-principles design through detailed engineering, analysis, test, and flight qualification. You will work primarily within the propulsion team, partnering with fluid systems, structures, manufacturing, and test to develop hardware that performs reliably under extreme pressure, temperature, and vibration environments. This is a highly technical role for an engineer who wants to deep dive into component-level design, analysis, manufacturing and testing. This is a role for someone who wants to solve hard, physics-driven design problems and own components end to end. What You Will Do Own the design and development of combustion system components – injectors, thrust chambers, nozzles Be accountable for component-level design from concept through detailed design, manufacturing, component test, and flight qualification Translate propulsion system requirements into component-level design concepts, detailed designs, and released hardware that meets functional, structural, thermal, and reliability targets Develop CAD models, detailed drawings, and release packages for components spanning prototype, development, qualification, and flight configurations Drive design-for-manufacture and design-for-assembly decisions specific to propulsion components, working closely with the manufacturing team on machining, brazing, welding, and additive processes Support component-level test planning, instrumentation, and post-test analysis to validate design assumptions and drive design iteration Qualifications Required 5+ years of experience in mechanical design and development of propulsion or other aerospace hardware that are used in high-temperature environments Ownership of combustion system components from concept through detailed design, manufacturing, test, and qualification Proficiency in CAD, GD&T, and mechanical drawing creation, with the ability to generate clear, manufacturable, and well-controlled hardware definitions for precision components Experience designing hardware for high-pressure, high-temperature, or cryogenic service Strong understanding of manufacturing processes relevant to propulsion hardware (machining, brazing, welding, additive manufacturing) and how design decisions affect producibility, cost, and quality Experience working with suppliers to source COTS components and manufacture in-house designed parts Ability to operate with ownership in a fast-paced, cross-functional hardware development environment Excellent communication and collaboration skills Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related field Preferred Direct experience designing liquid or hybrid rocket propulsion components Ability to perform and interpret engineering analyses using a combination of first-principles calculations and FEA/CFD tools, with sound judgment on the level of analysis appropriate to the component Hands-on experience with hot-fire or component-level propulsion testing, including instrumentation and post-test data analysis Understanding of combustion dynamics and how it influences hardware design Familiarity with rapid design-build-test hardware development environments Advanced degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related field

What you’ll do

You will own the end-to-end design, development, and qualification of combustion system hardware including injectors, thrust chambers, and nozzles. This involves translating requirements into detailed designs and collaborating with manufacturing and test teams to ensure hardware reliability.

Requirements

Candidates must have at least 5 years of experience in mechanical design of aerospace propulsion hardware and proficiency in CAD and GD&T. A bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering is required, with preference for experience in liquid or hybrid rocket propulsion.

Listed skills

• Engineering Analysis · Preferred
• precision · Preferred
• analysis · Preferred
• Collaboration · Preferred
• Teams · Preferred
• Data analysis · Preferred
• iteration · Preferred
• Planning · Preferred
• Communication · Preferred
• Development · Preferred
• Hardware Design · Preferred
• Design Development · Preferred

Other relevant skills

Identified from the job description. Confirm important requirements above.

• Propulsion engineering
• Mechanical design
• CAD
• GD&T
• Combustion systems
• Thermal analysis
• Structural analysis
• Manufacturing processes
• Additive manufacturing
• Welding
• Brazing
• Machining
• Test planning
• Instrumentation
• FEA
• CFD
• Mechanical Design
• Design Analysis
• Mechanical Drawings
• Prototype Development
• Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)
• Aerospace Engineering
• Propulsion
• Unit Testing
• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Communication
• Vibrations
• Engineering Design Process
• Development Environment
• Engineering Analysis
• Hardware Design
• Injector
• Mechanical Engineering
• Manufacturing Processes
• Physics
• Component Services
• Spacecraft Propulsion
• Test Data Generation
• Test Planning
• Thermal Management
• Brazing (Metal Work)
• Collaboration

Job areas

• Engineering
• Manufacturing
• Science & Research
• Energy
• Propulsion Engineer
• Aerospace Engineer
• Mechanical Engineers
• Aerospace Engineers