Mechanical Engineer, Fluid Systems (Design & Build)

Responsibilities

• Analyze, design, and build systems that support testing of fully integrated flight vehicles, individual rocket engines, and various rocket components
• Drive cradle-to-grave ownership of engineering projects through design reviews, decision justifications, equipment procurement, and coordination/participation in the construction of your ideas
• Work directly with skilled technicians to build your designs and fix real-world problems on the fly
• Maintain a tight feedback loop with the test operations team to rapidly alter plans as necessary to meet tight testing deadlines critical to company success
• Operate and troubleshoot equipment to achieve testing objectives, and apply lessons learned to iterate system designs for improved performance and maintenance
• Evaluate complex engineering needs and arrive at solutions to seemingly impractical problems that support test programs and achieve company objectives
• Take a hands-on approach to tackling rapidly-emerging field projects that keep the company testing rocket engines and vehicles every single day

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, or other engineering discipline
• 1+ years of hands-on design or build experience (professional work, internships, clubs, or other engineering activities qualify)

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Strong fundamental understanding and intuition for fluid, structural, or mechanical systems
• Critical thinking and problem solving in stressful, dynamic situations
• Positive responses and outcomes to challenges posed by short deadlines
• Hands-on build—machining, welding, and other fabrication techniques are a plus
• Creativity to imagine and design for reliability, efficiency, and maintainability from scratch
• Driven approach to addressing challenges and opportunities—an enthusiastic, self-motivated, positive, can-do attitude
• Determining the best solution among several options, often balancing cost/schedule/complexity
• Acute attention to detail, and ability to see interactions with related systems to avoid problems
• Instrumentation and testing, data review and analysis, verification of models against reality
• High-pressure or cryogenic fluid systems and components
• Complex structural or mechanical systems and components
• Design verification with simplified hand calculations and complex modeling—FEA or CFD is a plus
• Production of fabrication drawings for parts to be machined or welded
• Intermediate skill level using CAD—Siemens NX is a plus
• ASME piping and pressure vessel design
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• 3+ years of engineering design experience in an industrial setting or equivalent