Director of Propulsion Engineering

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. 

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind. 

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital. 

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

Director of Propulsion Engineering

El Segundo, California, United States | Full-Time, On-Site 

About This Role

As the Director of Propulsion Engineering at Varda, you will own Varda's propulsion engineering development end-to-end from concept to flight. In this role, you will be responsible for the success of propulsion engineering for Varda's evolving vehicle capabilities through determining development objectives, technical risk reduction, engineering staffing, and schedule acceleration reporting directly to the CTO. You will directly lead the propulsion engineering team across systems, fluid components, combustion devices, and test to build Varda's systems that enable commercial, on-orbit pharmaceutical manufacturing and hosted payload missions at scale. The Director of Propulsion Engineering is both technically sharp and excels in technical leadership of propulsion engineering of active and iterative flight systems through a first principles, systems engineering mindset, as they play a critical role in building both the engineering organization and Varda's technology to establish the first routine industrial operations off our home planet.

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 in order to achieve Varda's engineering objectives.
• 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, ensuring urgency drives the pace and not the rigor.
• Drive cross-functional alignment across the engineering organization to ensure propulsion development integrates with the vehicle architecture, manufacturing readiness, test execution, launch operations, and flight objectives.
• Report, forecast, and communicate propulsion engineering status, schedule, and critical path of both intra-team and inter-team efforts across the entire interdisciplinary engineering organization.

Basic Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in aerospace spacecraft or launch vehicle propulsion engineering - across design, build, test, and flight.
• 3+ years of leadership or management experience.
• Bachelor's degree in an aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, math, or physics discipline.
• Fingerprints in space.
• Experience on an engineering team designing, building, and successfully flying aerospace hardware or software.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical direction and execution of a next-generation aerospace engineering team.
• Experience interfacing with cross-disciplinary engineering and production teams.
• Strong fluid systems, components, combustion, and/or mechanical engineering fundamentals.
• Exceptional teamwork, communication (verbal and written), and problem-solving in a collaborative environment.
• First principles thinking.
• Desire to work in a technically complex and fast-moving environment, and willing to work extended hours or weekends as necessary.
• Proficiency with CAD and lifecycle management (PLM) software.
• U.S. Person status to access export-controlled data.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of experience in aerospace spacecraft or launch vehicle propulsion engineering.
• 4+ years of experience leading an engineering team.
• Deep understanding of interdisciplinary engineering fundamentals and dependencies.
• Experience building engineering teams and processes from zero to one.
• Experience in the life cycle of spacecraft development: design, build, test, and flight.
• In-space engine design and vacuum test experience.
• In-space propellant tank design, integration, test, and flight.
• Pressurization & propellant system design and analysis.
• Experience interfacing with regulatory agencies in aerospace engineering.
• Experience with Siemens NX or similar CAD software.

Compensation & Benefits 

Salary Range: $180,000 – $220,000 per year 

Leveling and base salary are determined by job-related skills, education, experience, and performance. You’ll also be eligible for incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards. 

• Varda, like all employers, must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S.  Additionally, our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. At present, some of our technology to which employees have access requires a license to be exported to individuals other than “U.S. Persons” as defined in U.S. export regulations. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items, our current policy is to only hire “U.S. persons” who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license. 

  “US person” means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e., individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum in the U.S.)

   Learn more about the ITAR here.  

Benefits