Sr. Propulsion Components Engineer (Spacecraft)

ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE

As an end-to-end space transportation company, Firefly Aerospace is on a mission to enable our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the surface of the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

Propulsion components are critical and complex assemblies essential to the performance and success of our spacecraft. As the Senior Components Engineer for Spacecraft Propulsion, you will play a pivotal role in the design, development, and qualification of these components. You will lead technical initiatives to enhance the performance, reliability, and cost-efficiency of propulsion systems, ensuring they meet the evolving demands of our Blue Ghost Lunar Lander and Elytra on-orbit mobility and services spacecraft. Your role will encompass design, development, qualification, upgrades, and ensuring technical rigor to support successful missions. You will drive innovation, mentor team members, and maintain clear communication with leadership to ensure the successful execution of projects and program milestones.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Technical Ownership: Serve as the primary technical expert responsible for the propulsion components on the Blue Ghost Lunar Lander and Elytra spacecraft, overseeing their design, development, and continuous improvement.
• Design Coordination: Lead the coordination of design and development activities for propulsion components, ensuring alignment with engineering standards and project requirements.
• Technical Leadership: Conduct technical planning meetings to establish objectives, track progress, and ensure that all program milestones are achieved on schedule.
• Mentorship and Knowledge Sharing: Mentor less experienced engineers, fostering professional growth and facilitating the transfer of knowledge and expertise within the team.
• Strategic Assistance: Support management with strategic planning and resource allocation, contributing to the development and execution of key technical initiatives within the spacecraft team.
• Leadership Communication: Maintain clear and effective communication with leadership, providing updates on project status and identifying any technical challenges.
• Design and Upgrade Coordination: Collaborate with Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) to coordinate design changes and upgrades, establishing hardware cut-in dates and ensuring seamless implementation.
• Production Support: Ensure that production needs are met across all product lines by assisting propulsion manufacturing engineers (MEs) and technicians in resolving non-conformance reports (NCRs) and addressing root causes of systemic issues.
• Risk Management: Identify, assess, and manage risks associated with propulsion components, implementing proactive measures to mitigate potential issues.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or related engineering discipline.
• 3+ years hands on experience with propulsion components, propulsion systems, or similar mechanical assemblies.
• Exceptional comprehension of engineering fundamentals including fluid mechanics, compressible flow, heat transfer, structural analysis, materials, and processes.
• Strong Collaborator – ability to understand others’ perspectives and reconcile them with your own to quickly come to the best engineering solution while ensuring all collaborators are heard.
• Personal investment in the success of the propulsion components and drive to produce creative designs and hardware as quickly and with the highest quality and performance as possible.
• Strong system level understanding – ability to create and challenge requirements for propulsion components with minimal help from systems engineers
• Has successfully completed or supported 10 or more complex projects
• Has core skills to organize and align teams for the success of the program

Desired

• 7 + years hands on experience with propulsion components, propulsion systems, or similar mechanical assemblies
• Strong understanding of fluid systems aspects such as fluids systems sizing, valve design and operation, instrumentation, flexible element design & integration and fluid fittings.
• Experience with full development lifecycle. Blank sheet design through qualification and mission execution.
• Skilled in creating analytical/numerical models of engineering devices and processes.
• Experience creating and interpreting FEA and CFD models of propulsion components.