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Salary: USD 72,000 - 100,000 / annual
Rocket Lab is seeking a Business Development & Strategy Engineer to support the growth of HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron), the company's hypersonic flight testing platform. Based at Rocket Lab's Long Beach headquarters, you'll work at the intersection of hypersonic flight testing, national security, and business development.
Reporting to the Director of Business Development, HASTE, you'll be an integral member of the Global Launch Services (GLS) Business Development team, collaborating cross-functionally with Engineering, Mission Management, Production, and other departments.
Key responsibilities include:
- Drafting proposals for new business opportunities in collaboration with Business Development and Engineering teams
- Supporting opportunity identification, market and competitive analysis, capture and proposal activities
- Tracking opportunities, analyzing pipeline activity, and forecasting demand for HASTE capabilities
- Coordinating with Engineering to assess mission requirements and develop technical responses to customer inquiries
- Working with Production and Engineering to establish realistic NRE timelines and launch dates
- Collaborating with Communications to maintain and improve HASTE marketing materials, data sheets, and user guides
- Using Salesforce to track leads, opportunities, and proposals; supporting reporting and KPI development
- Supporting Business Development activities related to launch service agreements, technical assistance agreements, and NDAs
- Building and maintaining knowledge of the suborbital launch and hypersonic test markets, including competitive capabilities, customer demand, and emerging trends
Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems. The company moves fast, builds real hardware for meaningful missions, and operates with a culture of hard work, determination, innovation, and teamwork.
QUALIFICATIONS (Required):
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or other technical discipline
- Professional or internship experience in an engineering role within the aerospace, defense, or national security industries
- U.S. citizenship (required due to program requirements and ITAR regulations)
- Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance
QUALIFICATIONS (Preferred):
- Experience or academic exposure to the design, manufacturing, integration, or testing of hypersonic systems, payloads, or flight vehicles
- Experience with hypersonic systems, flight testing, or launch vehicles
- Familiarity with current hypersonic flight test, missile defense, suborbital launch, or related national security markets
- Experience working on fast-paced engineering programs with geographically distributed or cross-functional teams
- Master's degree in aerospace engineering or related engineering discipline (mechanical, electrical, computer engineering)
- Experience with Python scripting, trajectory generation, or trajectory analysis
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Demonstrated curiosity and enthusiasm for aerospace, hypersonics, and national security applications
- Strong organizational and problem-solving skills, with ability to manage multiple priorities and work independently
- Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and colleagues with diverse technical backgrounds
- Ability to understand complex technical concepts and communicate them clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
