Mechanical Engineering Manager - Power Generation

Application close date:

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! 

As part of a hardworking team of engineers and technical specialists, you will directly impact the history of space exploration and demonstrate your commitment to safe, reliable, and repeatable spaceflight. Join us in lowering the cost of access to space and advancing Blue Origin’s vision of millions of people living and working in space to benefit Earth.

This Mechanical Engineering Manager position leads a team of mechanical design engineers developing structural, fluid handling, and thermal control subassemblies for electrical power generation equipment, including Fuel Cell Generators and Solar Arrays. Team responsibilities include hardware specification, design, analysis, test, and vendor technical management.

Reporting to the Core Electrical Power System (EPS) Director, you will be accountable for personnel management and technical leadership. Personnel management responsibilities include fostering employee training, growth, and career development; managing underperformance; coordinating project assignments with team leads; and reconciling project needs with staff resources/capabilities. On the technical side, you will own the quality of the team's deliverables while establishing the standards, processes, and tools that enable success; this involves significant technical input and oversight on ongoing projects, as well as strategic roadmap planning to drive technology advancement and cost/mass reduction initiatives.

Passion for our mission and vision is required. If you are excited by delivering both near-term and long-term value, solving novel problems, learning new topics, and completing challenging projects, please apply!

• Recruit, hire, manage, and mentor a team of engineers

• Be responsible for the people, processes, and tools that are essential for best-in-class performance

• Supply staffing to projects, reconciling project needs with staff capabilities and negotiating time commitments

• When project demand exceeds group capabilities or capacity, work with the Director to gain approval for adding staff or contract labor as needed

• Participate in planning to increase vertical integration of fuel cell stack and balance-of-plant components (e.g., pumps, motors, valves, regulators)

• Supply Subject Matter Expert (SME) knowledge to down-select architectures appropriate for mission requirements

• Lead trade studies, analyses, performance characterization and specification, device selection, and product roadmap direction

• Lead design risk analyses, design for test/manufacture/cost (DFx), and root-cause analysis of test discrepancies

• Effectively communicate development status, risks, and challenges to management

• Define requirements and drive design decisions to meet mission objectives and satisfy requirements while balancing cost, schedule, and risk

• Apply up-to-date CAD/CAE practices and tools, including structural, fluids, and thermal, to advance the capabilities of the team’s community of practice

• Coordinate and integrate with similar functional teams and expertise across the company

• Work with suppliers or Blue Origin groups to identify and procure components

• Create test plans and manage testing and qualification of components

• Work in a fast-paced and often uncertain environment, contributing to innovative solutions, while demonstrating personal leadership, technical competence, and attention to detail

• Write cogent and succinct technical memos and devise innovative/intuitive ways to visualize quantitative information

• Be a mentor, and offer leadership and development opportunities, putting those around you first

• Perform technical work where needed and provide technical leadership

• Motivate your team to achieve Blue Origin’s overarching objectives by training, planning, directing, delegating, and monitoring success

• Manage your direct reports’ professional development (e.g., hiring, performance evaluations, compensation and promotion management, routine one-on-one development conversations) and coach them on performance.

• Embody, promote, and coach the Blue Origin leadership principles

• B.S. degree in Mechanical, Physics, or Aerospace engineering or equivalent

• 2+ years of demonstrated experience managing technical teams and/or leading functional groups, with responsibility for technical quality of work delivered and career management of employees 

• 6+ years of relevant experience in aerospace or automotive industry

• Experience leading multidisciplinary development projects, including managing requirements, priorities, scope, schedule, and cost

• Experience managing suppliers of highly engineered components

• Experience designing ruggedized enclosures for electronics, electromechanical, fluid handling, or similar high-performance hardware

• Experience with static structural, modal, random vibration, thermal, and fluid analyses

• History of developing innovative solutions with partially defined requirements and changing criteria 

• History of managing schedules, budgets, and headcount

• Experience working with customers, component suppliers, fabricators, and distributors 

• Ability to be self-directed and balance multiple projects at one time 

• History of communicating status, design concepts, and technical results effectively 

• History of demonstrating autonomous leadership

• Technical or management abilities have been recognized by the larger organization

• Familiarity with 3D CAD modeling programs (Creo preferred) 

• Familiarity with FEA tools (Ansys preferred) 

• Familiarity with GD&T usage (ASME Y14.5) 

• Familiarity with environmental testing including vibration, shock, thermal cycle

• Experience performing failure analysis and establishing root cause / corrective action

• Flexibility and openness to tackling varied assignments and learning new skills

• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

• M.S. degree in Mechanical, Physics, or Aerospace engineering or equivalent

• Experience with recent versions of Creo, Windchill, ANSYS, ICEPAK, and Sherlock 

• Experience with structural analysis of composite tubes and sandwich panels

• Experience with aerospace industry standard analysis methods (Bruhn, Marks’, Shigley, Steinberg, Engelmeier) 

• Experience with environmental testing similar to SMC-S-016, DO-160, and/or MIL-STD-810 (random vibration, shock, thermal cycle, TVAC, EMI/RFI, etc.) 

• Experience with circuit card design per IPC-A-610 and/or J standards 

• Experience with GD&T implementation and analysis (ASME Y14.5) 
   

Base Pay Range for:

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.