Firefly Space Systems

Manager, Ground System Fluids Engineering

Firefly Space Systems • $100K — $130K *
Bertram, TX 78605In-Person
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical discipline
  • Minimum 5 years of experience in integration and/or testing of process control systems, spacecraft test equipment, or launch systems
  • Minimum 2 years of direct management or team leadership experience
  • Strong fluids fundamentals with hands-on experience operating or troubleshooting fluid systems
  • Working knowledge of common fluid system hardware and components
  • Excellent communication, planning, and organizational skills
  • Demonstrated ability to work with interdisciplinary teams

Responsibilities

  • Lead and mentor a team of engineers in designing and optimizing fluid ground systems
  • Recruit and develop top engineering talent passionate about space access
  • Set goals, provide feedback, and conduct performance reviews to foster team culture
  • Inspire a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement
  • Define project milestones and manage resource forecasts
  • Help engineers improve communication and accountability on projects
  • Establish and enforce fluid system design standards and best practices

Benefits

  • Generous health, dental, and vision plans with low deductibles
  • Parental leave
  • Educational and relocation reimbursement
  • Short-term disability
  • Flexible PTO options
Full Job Description


Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Management
  • Lead & mentor a team engineers as they design, build, and activate, and optimize fluid ground systems in support of tomorrow's launch vehicles and spacecraft
  • Recruit, develop, and retain top engineering talent with passion for advancing space access
  • Set clear goals, provide regular feedback, align individual development with company targets, conduct performance reviews, and nurture a healthy and challenging team culture
  • Inspire and nurture a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement by challenging hardware and software norms and developing more effective workspaces & tools
  • Define and manage project definition, project milestones, hand-off, and resource supply/demand forecasts
  • Help engineers develop the tools and skills to communicate effectively up and down the organizational chart through project reporting, design reviews, accountability to deadlines, build readiness reviews, Con-Ops reviews, activation SITs, and project handoffs

Technical Leadership
  • Establish and enforce the Firefly GSE Fluid System Standard
  • Work with customers and work centers to adhere to best practices for fluid system fabrication, installation, operation, and maintenance.
  • Tools/standards include, but are not limited to
  • Fluid system design guideline
  • Design templates for repeatable sub-system segments
  • Relief Sizing Tools
  • General analysis tools (pressure drop, flow, fluid thermal behavior, phase change, etc)
  • Fluid system fabrication guideline
  • Component Specification standards
  • Project Handoff packages
  • Oversee the design, construction, and deployment of GSE fluid systems including:
  • Requirement gathering
  • Managing internal customer relationships
  • Project status reporting
  • Technical Design Reviews
  • Manufacturing/Build Readiness Reviews
  • Work Instruction creation and review
  • Fabrication & Installation support
  • Activation & Handoff
  • Review & approve control document packages including, but not limited to:
  • P&IDs
  • Relief calculation documentation
  • Bills of materials
  • Instrument specifications
  • Critical spare inventory lists
  • Process flow diagrams
  • Identify and resolve operational issues for Fluid systems across all of Firefly.
  • Ensure compliance with Aerospace quality standards, safety requirements, and local regulations

Cross Functional Collaboration
  • Coordinate and manage relationships with interdisciplinary teams to set project requirements, coordinate on complex construction projects (new Test Stands, Launch Sites, vehicle handling/integration systems, etc), manage scope creep, and balance technical rigor with program urgency
  • Work with other GSE Leaders to manage dependencies between mechanical, fluid, and electrical systems on capital builds
  • Communicate with the Program teams to manage resource allocation in alignment with Program and Company priority
  • Gather information from various internal stakeholders and properly forecast fluid system design demand. Manage the team in accordance with that demand.
  • Work with the Fluids Engineers to manage capital budgets for Ground Support capital projects

Required Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical discipline
  • Minimum 5 years of experience in integration and/or testing of process control systems, spacecraft test equipment, or launch systems.
  • Minimum 2 years of direct management experience or team leadership experience
  • Strong fluids fundamentals with hands-on experience operating or troubleshooting fluid systems, conducting simulations/models, specifying Fluids system hardware, or similar experience.
  • Working knowledge of common fluid system hardware (ball valves, gate valves, solenoid valves, needle valves, butterfly valves, check valves, relief valves, shut down valves, regulators, etc)
  • Working knowledge of common fluid components/connections (NPT, AN, Swage, VC, welded, etc)
  • Excellent communication, planning, and organizational skills
  • Demonstrated ability and desire to work with interdisciplinary teams

Preferred Qualifications
  • Spacecraft / Launch Vehicle test and validation experience or equivalent industrial fluid system design experience
  • Experience with launch site and/or test site operations
  • Experience fabricating a fluids panel/fluids system
  • Experience specifying and installing instrumentation
  • Familiarity with specifications and aerospace quality standards (AS9100, AFSPCMAN 91-710, ASME B31.3, ASME Section 8, NASA)
  • A balanced sense of urgency and risk management style to handle interdisciplinary conflicts when they arise.
  • Experience managing vendor relationships and external contractors

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational/relocation reimbursement, short term disability, and flexible PTO options.

About Firefly Space Systems

Firefly Space Systems was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Cedar Park, Texas. The company was founded in 2013 with the goal of developing low-cost launch vehicles for the small satellite industry. Firefly's Alpha rocket was designed to carry payloads of up to 1,000 kg to low Earth orbit. The company was acquired by EOS Launcher in 2017 and is now known as Firefly Aerospace. Firefly Aerospace is continuing the development of the Alpha rocket and is also working on a larger rocket called Beta, which is designed to carry payloads of up to 8,000 kg to low Earth orbit. Firefly Aerospace is committed to providing affordable access to space for small satellite operators.
Learn more about Firefly Space Systems
Industry
Aerospace & Defense
Founded
2013
* Ladders Estimates

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