Senior Systems Engineer

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! 

This role is part of the Blue Origin Engines business unit, where our focus is the design, development, manufacturing, and testing of engines and propulsion systems. Built for multiple uses, our family of engines is powering the next generation of rockets for commercial, civil, national security, and human spaceflight.

As part of a hardworking team of engineers, you will be directly involved in the development and delivery of engine systems supporting a variety of customers and customer needs. This includes various lifecycles of engine development, including requirements development and decomposition, technical trade study support, risk management, verification planning and execution, and a myriad of other systems engineering-related activities. These responsibilities will require a wide application of sophisticated systems engineering principles, theories and concepts plus a strong understanding of other related subject areas. In this role, you will assist the Engines team with coordination and planning and will participate in process improvement activities. You will adopt and advocate for system engineering and integration practices across fields and teams in areas of system analysis, design, or integrated testing. You will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your dedicated commitment and detailed attention towards safe and repeatable spaceflight.

• Lead system design and development at all stages of the development lifecycle including: requirements capture and flow-down, preliminary design, critical design, product realization, design verification testing, system integration, qualification, certification, and delivery.
• Develop, manage, and allocate system level requirements.
• Lead systems engineering activities and drive system engineering practices.
• Manage, organize, and own gated reviews.
• Develop and mature Concept of Operations documents.
• Ownership of System Safety data for our engines.
• Drive technical accuracy and completeness of verification records (test plans, test reports, analysis reports, inspection reports, etc.)
• Ensure all aspects of the system are working to the correct configuration including drawings, interface control documents, and the design description documents.
• Ensure completeness of the life cycle for operability, reliability, maintainability.
• Negotiate between multiple interests to ensure the larger system as a whole is optimized.
• Daily launch vehicle customers and test site coordination, create interface definition and design specification documents from engineering documentation. Respond to all facets of customer’s vehicle operability questions during all life-cycle phases of design, development, test and launch.
• Effectively communicate development status, risks, and challenges
• Track, evaluate and report on system metrics
• Lead engine level trade studies
• Drive process improvement across systems engineering practices
• Lead system safety and hazards analyses, failure modes and reliability analyses.
• Management of internal/external engine interfaces

• Minimum of a B.S. degree in Engineering or another technical field
• 5+ years system development/integration experience working with complex mechanical systems
• Knowledge of current systems engineering and integration tools and methodologies, in a safety-critical environment
• Good interpersonal skills, ability to work effectively in teams, demonstrated execution and coordination skills
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams through direct authority or through influence
• Experience with systems engineering tools such as DOORS, DNG, Jama, or similar
• Experience with Atlassian collaboration tools Jira and Confluence
• Strong understanding of the System Engineering Process; Requirements, Verification, and Risk Management
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrated technical expertise in space qualified liquid rocket engines, fluid/mechanical systems, avionics, manufacturing, systems engineering, vehicle integration and/or test.
• Desire to support customer, government contractor and internal Blue leadership interaction
• Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum

• 5+ years of experience in rocket engine development.
• Experience with logic linked scheduling
• Experience across multiple portions of the product life cycle from concept to full-rate production
• Experience with human spaceflight or high-performance aircraft systems
• Experience with JAMA, DOORS, CREO, Windchill
• Experience with failure investigations
• Experience supporting proposals
• System Safety analysis experience including Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis, Fault Tree Analysis, and Functional Hazard Analysis

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.