Senior Propulsion Engineer, Structures at Apex in Los Angeles, CA

Job description

Spacecraft represent the most pressing unmet need across the entire aerospace industry. As more launch vehicles come online and the cost to orbit decreases, more companies launching payloads to space continue to emerge. For the first time in history, this influx of payload companies combined with reduced launch costs has resulted in a massive increase in need for commercial spacecraft platforms, known as satellite buses. These buses hold the payloads of our customers and are flown on launch vehicles. Apex manufactures these satellite buses at scale using a combination of software, vertical integration, and hardware that is designed for manufacturing. Our spacecraft enable the future of society: ranging from earth observation to communications and more. We’d love for you to join us on our mission of providing humankind access to the galaxy beyond our planet. About the Role Apex is seeking a Senior Propulsion Engineer with deep expertise in structures and hardware integration to design the propulsion modules that bolt onto Apex spacecraft at scale. You will own the mechanical design of the module, including the structure, mounting and installation of flow controllers, PPUs, and thrusters, and the packaging that turns a set of components into a single, buildable, flight-ready assembly. What makes this role distinctive is that the propulsion components you're integrating are designed and built in-house at Apex. You'll work directly with the engineers who own our thrusters, cathodes, flow controllers, and PPUs, influencing their mechanical, thermal, and interface design so the components and module are optimized together from the start. You'll also work closely with our manufacturing team throughout the design cycle, supporting first builds and incorporating feedback from the production floor as we scale. This is a senior individual-contributor role with significant design ownership and technical leadership scope on a team building propulsion modules for serial production. Responsibilities: • Own the mechanical design of propulsion modules, including module structures, mounting interfaces, and the installation of flow controllers, PPUs, thrusters, and other propulsion hardware. • Design module structures to meet vehicle-level structural and environmental requirements, including launch loads, vibration, shock, and thermal environments, while conforming to vehicle ICDs. • Define and manage the mechanical, thermal, and structural interfaces between propulsion components and the module, and between the module and spacecraft. • Partner directly with Apex's in-house thruster, cathode, flow controller, and PPU teams to co-optimize component and module design, influencing component mounting, form factor, packaging, and interfaces early in the design cycle. • Perform and review structural analysis, including hand calculations and FEA, to verify strength, stiffness, and margins and support fracture, fatigue, and random-vibration assessments. • Design against mass, cost, and power budgets and drive engineering trades to keep the module within its allocations. • Drive design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly to ensure modules are buildable and installable at rate, while designing for serviceability during fill, drain, and ground operations. • Partner closely with manufacturing and production teams throughout the design cycle, walking designs through with technicians and production engineers, supporting first builds, and resolving issues on the floor. • Incorporate manufacturing feedback into future design iterations to improve producibility, yield, repeatability, and build time as production scales. • Own component and assembly drawings, tolerance stack-ups, fastening and torque specifications, and installation work instructions. • Support the build, integration, and test of flight hardware and contribute to anomaly resolution, failure analysis, and root-cause investigations. • Drive continuous design improvements across module generat