Senior TPS Design Engineer

Advanced Reentry Technologies

Position Overview:

Inversion’s reentry vehicles are pushing the limits of hypersonic flight and our Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) are critical to success. As a TPS Design Engineer, you will work alongside Inversion’s aerothermal and structures teams to design, manufacture and integrate a high performance, cost effective TPS for Inversion’s lifting-body reentry vehicles.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design cutting edge thermal protection systems for Inversion’s Arc vehicle.
• Organize development and qualification testing of TPS materials and installations.
• Develop accelerated TPS integration methods to reduce manufacturing time.
• Develop the analysis and design workflow of the flight heatshields for flight vehicles.
• Explore trades between TPS materials and manufacturing methods.
• Work with outside vendors, suppliers, and testing resources to bring new materials, capabilities, and processes in-house at Inversion.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Material Science, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or Chemical Engineering OR equivalent experience in a relevant field.
• Typically, 5+ years of professional experience working with, formulating, or producing materials for extreme temperature environments (Reentry, Rocketry, Hypersonics, Propulsion, Nuclear Power, etc.).
• Experience using Siemens NX or similar CAD software.
• Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance.

Desired Qualifications:

• Professional experience in design, testing, and integration of thermal protection systems for hypersonic or reentry flight vehicles.
• Professional experience working with, formulating, or producing ablative or ceramic TPS.
• Strong understanding of the fundamentals behind aerothermal heating of reentry vehicles, TPS production, and thermal environments of extreme temperature applications.
• Prior experience working in startups and/or small independent teams.

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $150,000-$210,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.

ITAR Compliance:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.