Director of Propulsion Engineering

7w1 month ago

Varda Space

El Segundo, US · Full-time · $180,000 – $220,000

About this role

As the Director of Propulsion Engineering at Varda, you will own propulsion engineering development end-to-end from concept to flight. Reporting directly to the CTO, the role focuses on setting development objectives, reducing technical risks, and accelerating schedules for evolving vehicle capabilities.

You will lead the propulsion engineering team across systems, fluid components, combustion devices, and test. The position requires building Varda's systems that enable commercial on-orbit pharmaceutical manufacturing and hosted payload missions at scale through iterative flight programs.

Varda's headquarters in El Segundo houses the production facility where vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. The team includes veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies, and Silicon Valley working to expand the orbital economy.

This role plays a critical part in establishing the first routine industrial operations off our home planet. You will build both the engineering organization and the technology needed to create a bustling in-space ecosystem for pharmaceutical processing and reentry capsules.

Requirements

Technically sharp with expertise in propulsion engineering of active and iterative flight systems.
Excels in technical leadership through a first principles, systems engineering mindset.
Experience building both the engineering organization and flight hardware technology from concept to recovery.
Strong background in determining development objectives, technical risk reduction, and schedule acceleration for propulsion systems.

Responsibilities

Own the definition and development of the propulsion engineering technology roadmap and capabilities to achieve Varda's company objectives.
Design, implement, and uphold Varda's propulsion engineering systems end-to-end from concept development to recovered vehicles.
Set the technical direction and drive the team to improve Varda's designs, processes, and flight operations toward increasing cadence.
Identify and determine the necessary project scope and propulsion engineering assignments with aggressive targets.
Lead, manage, and grow a team of propulsion engineers and leadership to drive propulsion engineering efforts and execution.
Define and enforce a rigorous engineering team standard from project kickoff to closure and flight.
Drive cross-functional alignment across the engineering organization to ensure propulsion development integrates with vehicle architecture, manufacturing readiness, test execution, launch operations, and flight objectives.