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Turbomachinery Engineer

Kent, Washington

At Stoke, we believe a thriving space economy will enable a vibrant, sustainable, and equitable future here on Earth. That is why we’re building Nova, our fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle. Designed for daily flight, Nova tackles the core challenges of space transportation by reducing cost, increasing availability, and improving reliability. By radically lowering launch costs and increasing flight cadence, we’re helping create a truly scalable space industry.

Our team is mission-driven, collaborative, and empowered to take ownership of their work. If you want to work alongside some of the most dedicated and talented people on Earth, we’d love to have you join us.

Description

Fully reusable launch vehicles are the key to seamlessly connecting Earth and space. As a Turbomachinery Engineer at Stoke, you will have extreme ownership over all aspects of turbomachinery design, analysis, manufacturing, build, testing, and validation for advanced reusable rocket engines. You will seek out state-of-the-art design and manufacturing techniques and tools to solve challenging turbomachinery problems, and you will continuously iterate and improve your designs. You’ll also work on rapidly reusable rocket engines meant to be flown daily. You must be ready to stay focused, move fast, self-direct, and learn on the fly.

Responsibilities

  • Design, build, and test turbopumps for liquid rocket engines
  • Own turbomachinery design (CAD), drawings, and manufacturing plans
  • Perform hydrodynamic and aerodynamic sizing and flowpath design and analysis work for inducers, impellers, diffusers, nozzles, turbines, and other turbomachinery
  • Perform hydrostatic bearing sizing, performance trending, and coatings development for turbopump bearings
  • Evaluate axial thrust balance during transients and steady-state operating points.
  • Perform tolerance stackups, own build books, and ensure as-built pumps meet design intent.
  • Own test verification activities to ensure accomplished tests meet requirements
  • Support turbopump testing, data review, inspections, and go/no-go's
  • Own performance trending of various components (inducers, impellers, turbines, axial/ radial bearing capacities, cavitation, etc)
  • Own design improvement plans for turbopump components including manufacturing improvements to reduce cost and lead time
  • Use/develop high-speed data tools to review for turbopump vibration and rotor-dynamics performance
  • Resolve hardware build non-conformances thru resolution
  • Conduct fault tree investigations and root cause analysis

Qualifications

  • Demonstrated experience as an RE who takes extreme ownership of their product
  • Demonstrated ability to manage numerous hardware workflows to meet required delivery dates
  • Bachelor’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or similar
  • 4+ years of experience in design, build, and testing of rocket engine turbopumps or related turbomachinery experience
  • Understanding of hydrodynamic/aerodynamic design and fundamentals of turbomachinery
  • Extensive experience using CAD tools and configuration management (Siemens NX and Teamcenter preferred).
  • Experience with mechanical design including machined parts, additive parts, weldments, fasteners, seals, and rotating assemblies.
  • Experience in rocket engine turbomachinery axial/radial tolerance stackups, and material selection
  • Experience in the design, build, and testing of inducers, impellers, volutes, turbines, nozzles, shafts, bearings, and seals.
  • Experience with secondary flow and axial thrust balance modeling
  • Proficiency in heat transfer, compressible and incompressible flow, and cryogenics
  • Excellent written and verbal communication
  • Willing to relocate to Seattle, WA

Benefits

  • Equity – We know that our employees are the reason we succeed. To give everyone a stake in our future, we are pleased to offer equity in the form of stock options to all regular, full-time employees. 
  • Comprehensive benefits program including subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance 
  • Company-paid life and disability insurance 
  • 401(k) plan with employer match 
  • 4 weeks’ Paid Time Off  
  • Holidays – 10 days (including an end-of-year closure) 
  • Paid Family/Parental Leave  
  • On-site gym or monthly wellness stipend (depending on location) 
  • Dog friendly offices! 

Compensation

Target Levels:

  • Level 3 Range: $129,150 - $193,620
  • Level 4 Range: $151,305 - $252,105
  • Level 5 Range: $176,505 - $327,810

Our job posts are intentionally written to attract a wide variety of experience levels, and we make decisions about the right fit on a per-candidate basis. 

Your actual level and base salary will be decided based on your specific experience and skill level.

#LI-CA1

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Equal Opportunity 

The Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including with respect to disability and veteran status.  It is committed to compliance with all equal opportunity laws, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and Title VII.   It does not discriminate on the basis of nationality, race, citizenship, immigration status, or any other protected class when it comes to employment practices, including hiring. 

Employment at the Company is contingent upon satisfactory completion of reference and background checks, and on your ability to prove your identity and authorization to work in the U.S. for the Company.  Employees must comply with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services employment verification requirements, and, therefore, they must complete an Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 at the start of employment and re-verify authorization to work periodically.

Separate from this I-9 process, this position entails access to certain technology and technical data that is restricted under U.S. export control laws and regulations.  Employment or continued employment may be conditioned on your legal authorization to work with or have access to export control materials as necessary to perform your job.

Candidate Rights & Accommodations

If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete the application or participate in the interview process, please contact careers@stokespace.com. Requests will be handled in accordance with applicable laws. Please do not include medical or other confidential information in your initial request.

For more information about your rights, please refer to the "Know Your Rights" notice here. 

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