Senior Engineer - Electric Thruster Engineering

About the role

Rocketdyne is a world-recognized aerospace leader providing propulsion to customers around the world. Our electric propulsion systems enable a wide variety of missions from the exploration of our solar system to global communication and the surveillance of severe weather and wildfires. We are seeking an experienced engineer in support of thrusters for electric propulsion systems. The successful candidate will support development, qualification, and production of ion thrusters, Hall thrusters, arcjets, or other electric propulsion products.

Responsibilities

• As a member of the Engineering senior staff, the Senior Specialist will work with minimal direction and exercise considerable latitude in determining objectives and approaches to assignments.
• Guide the successful completion of major projects and may function as a program technical team leader.
• Act as an external spokesperson for the organization on major matters pertaining to strategic plans and objectives.
• Serve as a technical authority and provide guidance and training to less experienced personnel.
• Plan, prepare for, and support production and testing of electric thrusters.
• Use engineering and scientific principles to prevent, investigate, and resolve hardware and process anomalies.
• Lead thruster research and development including design and engineering analyses.
• Lead test process development and process improvements.
• Lead project teams to define and implement engineering solutions to meet organization and customer objectives.

Qualifications

• Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or other related discipline.
• 4 years of electric propulsion experience or a PhD and an additional 1 year of experience.
• Experience with electric thruster design, mechanical assembly, or test.
• Experience working in a team environment and excellent written and verbal skills.
• Technical expertise in electric propulsion and knowledge of related disciplines.
• Expertise in plasma physics and material science and their practical application to electric thruster design and development.
• U.S. Citizenship Requirements: Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance at the appropriate level; must also be able to satisfy federal government requirements for access to government information, and having dual citizenship may preclude you from being able to meet this requirement.

Schedule

9/80: Employees work 9 out of every 14 days – totaling 80 hours worked – and have every other Friday off.