Propulsion Engineer - Liquid Rocket Engines
Houston, TX
About the Position:
We are seeking a Propulsion Design Engineer to support the development of next-generation liquid rocket engines and propulsion hardware. This role is primarily focused on the design, analysis, fabrication, and testing of liquid rocket engine injectors and associated combustion hardware. The successful candidate will play a key role in developing injector architectures, combustion devices, and additively manufactured engine components through rapid design-build-test iterations.
The successful candidate will work closely with propulsion analysts, thermal engineers, structures engineers, manufacturing personnel, and test engineers to develop flight and development hardware from initial concept through hot-fire testing. This is a hands-on engineering role requiring deep technical engagement with hardware design, analysis, fabrication, and test execution.
Responsibilities:
- Design liquid rocket engine components including injectors, combustion chambers, manifolds, feed system hardware, and associated propulsion components.
- Develop detailed 3D CAD models, assemblies, drawings, and manufacturing documentation
- Perform engineering analyses supporting propulsion hardware design, including structural, thermal, fluid, and manufacturability assessments.
- Develop propulsion hardware optimized for additive manufacturing processes, including complex internal flow features, integrated manifolds, cooling circuits, design-for-additive-manufacturing considerations, and post-processing requirements.
- Work closely with internal machine shop, additive manufacturing, and fabrication teams to mature designs from concept to hardware.
- Support component assembly, development testing, hot-fire testing, post-test hardware evaluations, and data analysis.
- Investigate hardware anomalies and implement design improvements based on test results and lessons learned.
- Collaborate with structures, thermal, manufacturing, test, and systems engineering teams throughout the hardware development lifecycle.
- Support rapid design-build-test iterations in a fast-paced development environment.
Requirements:
- BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related engineering discipline.
- Experience designing and testing injectors or cooled combustion chambers for liquid rocket engines.
- Proficiency with Creo, SolidWorks, or equivalent CAD software.
- Strong understanding of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and combustion fundamentals.
- Experience creating manufacturing drawings, tolerance schemes, and engineering documentation for fabricated hardware.
- Ability to develop engineering analyses and communicate technical recommendations.
- Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
Preferred / Differentiating Experience:- Experience developing cryogenic propulsion systems or hardware.
- Experience evaluating injector performance, atomization, combustion efficiency, combustion stability, or related combustion device characteristics.
- Experience with combustion chamber heat transfer, vacuum nozzles, electric pumps or turbomachinery, internal manifolding, or feed system hardware.
- Experience with additive manufacturing of metallic aerospace hardware and design-for-additive-manufacturing (DfAM) principles.
- Experience supporting component-level or engine-level hot-fire testing.
- Experience performing CFD, thermal, structural, combustion, or multidisciplinary analyses supporting propulsion hardware development.
- Experience working closely with machine shops, additive manufacturing facilities, and propulsion test organizations.
- Experience developing hardware for aerospace, launch vehicle, spacecraft, or defense applications.
