Lead propulsion development from concept to flight-ready engine, coordinating cross-functional teams

Senior Development Engineer In Propulsion

Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems that keep the world connected, protected, expand humanity's reach to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. We move fast, build real hardware for meaningful missions, and make the impossible routine. Come shape the future with us.

Engineering is the heart of Rocket Lab. We build world-class rockets and spacecraft and we launch them, often.

As a Senior Development Engineer in Propulsion, you'll own what powers Electron to orbit: Engines, turbopumps, valves, injectors, and the fluid systems that feed them.

First sketch to flight-ready hardware, and the standard everyone else builds to. You'll define the requirements, iterate in NX with analysis and manufacturing, own the EBOM, and release the drawings that get parts built. Then you'll plan and run the campaign that proves it, component rigs to hot fire, and coach the engineers who'll run the next one. Once it's flying, you define how it's operated and maintained.

It's hands-on, fast-paced problem solving where rapid innovation meets the highest safety standards and your hardware launches.

You'll bring these qualifications:

  • 6+ year's 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, concept through to operation, not one project, several.
  • Depth in at least two of these:
  • Structural: Will it hold up under load?
  • Vibration - How does it shake and resonate?
  • CFD - How do fluids and gases flow through it?
  • Thermal - How does heat move through it?
  • Fatigue and creep - Will it wear out or deform over time?
  • FMEA - What could go wrong, before it does?
  • Root cause - Why did it fail, and how do we stop it happening again?

These qualifications would be 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 our toolset - NX, Teamcenter, JAMA and Jira. If you've used the equivalents, you'll pick these up fast

If the above sounds like you apply now!

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