Propulsion System Design Engineer
Confidential
Posted: January 30, 2026
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Quick Summary
Design and develop custom propulsion systems for diverse customer missions, working closely with internal teams and collaborating with customers to translate their needs into technical requirements.
Required Skills
Job Description
About the Job
Dawn Aerospace is looking for a Propulsion System Design Engineer. In this role, you’ll take a leading hand in the design and development of custom propulsion systems for a diverse range of customer missions. You will work closely with our customers—translating their needs into technical requirements—and collaborate with internal engineering, manufacturing, and test teams throughout the full development cycle. This is a high-impact role where your expertise directly influences real customer projects and mission success. As a Propulsion System Design Engineer, you will be responsible for:
Key Responsibilities:
Design and development of the propulsion system
Management of requirements and ensuring their verification
Management of the technical budgets like mass, propellants and power
Close collaboration with the customer
Close collaboration with the subsystem experts
Close collaboration with the project manager
Required Experience:
A degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or similar
3+ years of experience in design and development of space systems
Experience in customer engagement
Experience in working within a multidisciplinary team
Experience with computer-aided design (CAD), preferably SolidWorks
Experience with MATLAB, Python or similar
Desired Experience:
Experience with spacecraft propulsion systems, chemical or electrical
Experience with AIT
Experience with ECSS or NASA design standards
Experience with working in a geographically widespread team
Experience with rapid development cycles
Note: this role is a fixed term contract with intent for a permanent contract after 12 months.
About Dawn Aerospace
Dawn Aerospace is a space transportation company with a purpose.
Our mission is to enable the next generation of space users by providing more sustainable and scalable ways to access and move around in space. We believe this access, in the form of a transportation network, will fundamentally change what’s possible from space. We currently focus on two areas of space transportation:
In-space propulsion
We're a leading supplier of turnkey green propulsion systems for various classes of satellites. Our systems utilise safe, accessible propellants and we have over 170 of these propulsion units on more than 40 operational satellites already. A further 200 units are in production.
In-space servicing
Coupled with our propulsion expertise, we are ensuring that our customers' satellites are refuellable. In the coming years, Dawn will offer a refueling service to enable life extension of customer satellites. This new market is aligned with our sustainability goal to ensue a clean and safe space for everyone!
Spaceplane
Our Mk-II Aurora spaceplane demonstrator has completed over 60 successful flights and we recently completed campaigns utilising our in-house rocket engine. Mk-II is unique in that it combines the performance of a rocket and the rapid reusability and economic model of an aircraft.
Our international teams are distributed across four locations: the Netherlands, France, New Zealand, and the USA.
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Important!
If you think you have what it takes but are unsure that you check every box, we still want to hear from you.
To all recruitment agencies: Dawn Aerospace does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our job’s alias, our employees, or any other company location. Dawn Aerospace will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.