About this job

Rocket Lab is the global leader in dedicated small satellite launch. Launching from right here in New Zealand, we design and build innovative technology to give small satellites a premium ride to orbit.

Small satellites play a crucial role in our day-to-day lives – they connect us, keep us safe, help us understand our planet and manage our impact on it, and they enable us to innovate and explore. There are endless possibilities for what we can achieve with better access to space, and that access is now a reality thanks to Rocket Lab.

Our relentlessly innovative team is behind Electron, the world’s only truly commercial small satellite launch vehicle in operation today. With multiple orbital launches under our belt and a record of 100% mission success, we’re opening access to space to improve life on Earth. We’ve built a world class team with a reputation for doing the impossible. Collaboration is at our core – every idea is heard and everyone makes a difference.  Every day, we pursue ideas that challenge, excite and demand more of us, and we make them real. Be a part of it.

As a Design Engineer in Propulsion you will work with the rest of the Propulsion Team to develop and improve the performance and production of propulsion components and assemblies.

This job will involve daily co-operation with the R&D team in Auckland (including design, analysis, manufacturing and testing) and some work with the Production Facility in Huntington Beach, USA. The tasks will range from troubleshooting of detailed component defects for design improvement up to developing new designs for the Electron launch vehicle. You will work closely with test engineers and production engineers to ensure your designs can be tested to check performance, and that they can be produced for flight.

Responsibilities

• Develop design requirements and conceptual designs
• Perform preliminary analysis (structural and thermal)
• Responsible for creating and running design, test and production reviews on your designs
• Responsible for design records and documentation
• Identify work and support Analysis Team reviews
• Support the test and manufacturing teams in qualification testing and production of new designs
• Create detailed engineering drawings for production
• Peer review colleagues engineering designs and drawings
• Achieve “design freeze” target dates that fit into company schedules
• Ensure that your designs pass design qualification criteria and work with the testing team to achieve this
• Proactively identify opportunities for improvements or cost/efficiency reductions
• Re-actively troubleshoot and resolve performance, quality, cost and delivery issues
• Work with technicians and other engineers performing production to create simple and easy to interpret processes

Profile

• An engineering degree in Mechanical, Aerospace or an equivalent qualification
• 2+ years design engineering experience within industry
• Strong experience working Solidworks or equivalent CAD program
• Document management system experience
• Excellent knowledge of physics and engineering materials