[Nyx Earth] Propulsion Design Office Principal

Here at The Exploration Company, we are developing, producing, and operating Nyx, a modular and reusable space orbital vehicle that can eventually be refuelled in orbit and that can carry cargo - and potentially humans in the longer run.

Team Leadership & Engineering Management

- Lead, mentor, and grow a team of engineers spanning thermal, structural/mechanical, CFD and CAD/design functions, fostering a culture of technical excellence and accountability.

- Define individual scopes of work, set priorities, and manage workload across concurrent design activities to keep the team aligned with program milestones.

- Conduct regular design reviews and one-on-ones, providing clear technical direction and supporting career development within the office.

Propulsion System Design & Technical Ownership

- Making or approving key design decisions on feed or pressure systems, and associated structures.

- Drive design-to-requirements traceability, ensuring system satisfy mass, thermal, and safety margins up to qualification.

- Coordinate with Systems Engineering and Vehicle Design to manage interfaces between the propulsion system and adjacent vehicle subsystems.

Thermal Analysis & Management

- Oversee steady-state and transient thermal analyses of propulsion components, ensuring compliance with temperature limits across all mission phases (ground operations, in-orbit, re-entry).

- Review and approve thermal models, ensuring analytical rigor and correlation with test data.

- Guide the team in identifying test platforms and defining test objectives.

Structural & Mechanical Design

- Direct the mechanical design of propulsion structures, and brackets, ensuring adequate strength, stiffness, and fatigue life under load cases.

- Oversee FEA and hand-analysis efforts to verify structural margins, and lead disposition of any margin concerns or design anomalies.

- Working closely with AIT team to define and validate integration sequences.

CAD, Documenta...