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Senior Engineer - Flight Termination

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab

Auckland, New Zealand
Posted on Wednesday, July 12, 2023

About The Role

Rocket Lab is a vertically integrated provider of small launch services, satellites, and spacecraft components. Our mission is to open access to space to improve life on Earth. Our team is over 1,500 people strong and we’re adding to it every week. Collaboration is at our core – every idea is heard, and everyone makes a difference. Teams are nimble, decisions are made quickly, and we are action oriented.

Life at Rocket Lab

While other companies talk about it, we do it!


About the role

The purpose of the Senior Flight Termination Engineer role is to support the Rocket Lab Autonomous Flight Termination System (RLAFTS) and all adjacent functions to achieve certification as well as regular and reliable mission success. You will be on the front-line of cutting-edge avionics hardware development and have the unique opportunity to support the creation, test, deployment and sustainment of avionics hardware and systems that go into orbit.

You will be responsible for establishing, maintaining, demonstrating, and reporting on the compliance of the Electron flight termination system to all applicable standards. You will be required to develop and maintain a close working relationship with the regulators (FAA & NASA) and be the key point of contact for all communications relating to the Rocket Lab Autonomous Flight Termination System (RLAFTS).

This includes but is not limited to flight computers, FPGAs, RF systems, and components used in guidance, navigation, and control. Our fundamental goal is to ensure our payloads reach orbit on time, every time while maintaining the safety of the public. Your role working with avionics hardware is critical to this mission, and the main line of defence to ensure the quality and reliability in a fast-paced production environment.

Essential skills

  • Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or other engineering discipline
  • 5+ years relevant industry experience.
  • 5+ years of experience with hardware development or electronics test engineering.
  • 3+ years of programming experience, preferably in Python, LabView, or C/C++

Desirable skills

  • Experience in analysing circuits and developing functional test plans.
  • Understanding of electronic circuits, design principles, and manufacturing techniques to analyse and improve test coverage.
  • Understanding and experience in environmental design testing, such as vibration, shock, thermal, and TVAC.
  • Familiarity with National Instruments platforms including DAQ, PXI, and cRIO.
  • Understanding of instrumentation, interfaces and sensors including power supplies, oscilloscopes, serial devices, switch topologies, accelerometers, thermocouples, RTDs, and 4-20mA sensors.

Rocket Lab Employee Benefits:

  • The opportunity to work on innovative and groundbreaking technology.
  • An employee stock purchase program.
  • Access to world leading experts to develop your career.
  • Unlimited barista coffee, fruit, and snacks.
  • Rocket Lab merchandise – T-shirts, mission patches etc.
  • Discounted health insurance with Southern Cross.
  • Additional parental leave entitlements.
  • A vibrant team culture with social activities throughout the year.

Important information:

FOR CANDIDATES SEEKING TO WORK IN US OFFICES ONLY:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen as defined by ITAR (22 CFR §120.15) or eligible to obtain the required authorizations fromthe U.S Department of State.

Rocket Lab provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment at Rocket Lab, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

FOR CANDIDATES SEEKING TO WORK IN NEW ZEALAND OFFICES ONLY:

For security reasons background checks will be undertaken prior to any employment offers being made to an applicant. These checks will include nationality checks as it is a requirement of this position that you be eligible to access equipment and data regulated by the United States' International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

Under these Regulations, you may be ineligible for this role if you do not hold citizenship of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the European Union or a country that is part of NATO, or if you hold ineligible dual citizenship or nationality. For more information on these Regulations, click here ITAR Regulations.

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