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Salary: USD 130,000 - 195,000 / annual
Cowboy Space Corp., founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood co-founder) and backed by leading investors, is building satellite infrastructure for the orbital economy. The company operates Low Earth Orbit satellites that collect sunlight and enable on-orbit compute, space-to-earth and space-to-space energy transmission via infrared lasers, and secure optical data delivery.
As a Fluids Engineer, you will own a critical fluid system from concept through flight qualification and deployment. Depending on team priorities, your assignment will focus on one of four areas: (1) Propulsion fluid design including main propulsion valves, throttling valves, and engine fluid routing/manifolding; (2) Vehicle propulsion feed systems including prevalves and propellant feedlines; (3) Vehicle tank pressure controls including vent valves and repress systems; or (4) Vehicle pneumatic systems including inert gas valves, regulators, and fluid routing for actuation and control.
This is a hands-on role at the center of propulsion and vehicle hardware development. You will work closely with propulsion, structures, thermal, avionics, manufacturing, and test operations to design integrated systems, build hardware, and validate through test.
Key responsibilities include: owning your fluid subsystem from concept through design, analysis, test, and flight; driving component and system designs for minimum mass while meeting pressure drop, proof, burst, leakage, cycle-life, and operating-life requirements; designing valves, fluid routing architectures, and storage hardware for propellant, pneumatic, and thermal fluid service; balancing performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule; performing hand calculations, FEA, and tolerance stack-ups; validating predictions with test and flight data; owning subsystem layout and integration; defining and executing qualification and acceptance test campaigns; developing engineering drawings, models, specifications, and interface control documents; working directly on the factory floor with manufacturing and technicians; troubleshooting hardware anomalies and performing root cause analysis; and supporting engine and vehicle integration, hot-fire operations, and ground system interfaces.
Required qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, or Chemical Engineering; 3+ years designing fluid system hardware (valves, regulators, tanks, tubing, fittings, manifolds) for flight vehicles or high-performance hardware; experience taking hardware from concept through build, integration, and test; strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, structural mechanics, materials, and manufacturing; experience with fluid system analysis including pressure drop/flow sizing and structural analysis; proficiency with CAD (NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo) and ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards; U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required.
Preferred qualifications include 10+ years of flight hardware design experience, direct rocket engine/launch vehicle/spacecraft propulsion experience, valve design and qualification experience, cryogenic fluid handling knowledge, material and seal compatibility with common propellants and pressurants, familiarity with AIAA/ASME/SAE/MIL-spec standards, hands-on prototyping/machining/brazing/welding experience, propulsion hot-fire testing experience, and startup/early-stage program experience.
