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Salary: USD 140,333 - 179,314 / annual
Varda Space Industries is building commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing systems and reentry capsules. As a Senior Fluid Systems Engineer on the Payload team, you will own the full lifecycle of precision fluid-handling hardware—from concept and design through build, test, launch, on-orbit operation, reentry, recovery, and post-flight analysis.
Your payloads will meter, mix, filter, transport, and thermally control pharmaceutical materials in compact, spacecraft-compatible hardware that operates in microgravity and survives hypersonic reentry. You'll work closely with pharmaceutical scientists and process engineers to translate mission objectives into qualified hardware on accelerated timelines.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own pharmaceutical manufacturing payloads from concept through design, integration, launch, in-orbit operation, reentry, and recovery
- Lead the design of precision fluid systems including valves, pumps, pistons, manifolds, tubing, fittings, seals, filters, sensors, and thermal-control systems
- Independently perform fluid, thermal, structural, and mechanism analyses using hand calculations, Python/MATLAB models, and FEA
- Build, instrument, and test prototypes and flight hardware to characterize flow rate, mixing, filtration, sealing, leak rate, pressure drop, thermal stability, contamination sensitivity, and reliability
- Integrate cross-functional inputs from business development, pharmaceutical science, and spacecraft subsystem teams into payload requirements
- Develop subsystem requirements, interface control documents, verification plans, test reports, and recovery procedures
- Lead continuous improvement and incorporation of lessons learned
- Mentor entry-level engineers and interns
This role is ideal for engineers who combine strong mechanical and fluid systems expertise with breadth across thermal, mechanisms, avionics, software, integration, and test disciplines, and who thrive delivering complex hardware on short development timelines.
Requirements:
- BS/BEng in Mechanical, Aerospace, Mechatronics, Biomedical, Chemical, or related engineering discipline
- 4+ years of experience designing, integrating, testing, and troubleshooting electromechanical hardware
- Strong mechanical and fluid systems expertise with breadth in at least one adjacent discipline (avionics, software, thermal, optics, test, precision instrumentation, etc.)
- Experience delivering hardware for rigorous environments such as aerospace, defense, semiconductor manufacturing, or biotech manufacturing
- Experience with valves, pumps, pistons, tubing, manifolds, fittings, seals, filters, sensors, metering hardware, thermal-control hardware, and/or compact fluidic assemblies
- Ability to independently define tasks, manage schedules, and deliver integrated hardware
- Excellent cross-disciplinary communication skills
Preferred qualifications:
- Prior full-cycle ownership of precision fluid-handling hardware for space applications (ECLSS, low-thrust propulsion, astronaut suits, spacecraft thermal control) or Earth applications (semiconductor process equipment, biotech process equipment, analytical instruments, medical devices)
- Experience with P&IDs, fluid schematics, component sizing, pressure-drop analysis, leak testing, flow characterization, 0D/1D fluid/thermal modeling, or design of experiments for process hardware
- Experience with compact systems controlling small volumes of liquids or gases under thermal, cleanliness, pressure, sterility, or contamination constraints
- Experience planning and executing aerospace environmental testing (vibration, TVAC, EMI/EMC)
- Familiarity with microgravity fluid behavior, capillary-driven flows, gas/liquid separation, two-phase flow, cGMP principles, cleanroom practices, or regulated hardware environments
Note: This role requires US person status (US citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) due to access to export-controlled items.
