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Salary: USD 180,000 - 210,000 / annual
Cowboy Space is building orbital infrastructure to power and connect the space economy. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood co-founder) and backed by leading investors, the company develops satellites in Low Earth Orbit that collect sunlight and enable on-orbit compute, space-to-earth energy transmission via infrared lasers, and secure optical data delivery.
As Senior Manufacturing Engineer for Turbopump Systems, you will own the complete manufacturing lifecycle of turbopump hardware—from design-for-manufacturability (DfM) direction through final assembly and acceptance. This is a hands-on technical leadership role with direct floor accountability.
Key responsibilities include: defining build processes (routings, work instructions, process specifications, inspection plans); owning turbopump assembly operations (fit-up, clearance verification, rotor balancing, torque/preload control); designing and building tooling and fixtures for machining, assembly, and handling; driving DfM and cost iteration; managing cleanliness and contamination control; dispositioning nonconformances and leading rework development; optimizing build cycle time, yield, and rate readiness; and supporting supplier qualification of new processes and equipment.
You will bring creative problem-solving to every challenge, ask hard questions, and own fixes through to completion. The role requires hands-on floor presence and accountability for scaling processes from first article to repeatable production.
Required: Bachelor's in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Aerospace, or related engineering; working knowledge of precision machining, GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, and dimensional inspection (CMM); hands-on ownership of build/assembly processes; experience dispositioning nonconforming hardware and developing rework.
Preferred: 8+ years manufacturing or production engineering on precision mechanical, rotating, or propulsion hardware; experience with liquid rocket engine turbopumps or comparable high-speed rotating assemblies; rotor balancing, bearing/dynamic seal installation, and assembly clearance control; welding, brazing, or additive manufacturing process development and NDE; work instruction and process specification authoring; tooling design, analysis, and procurement.
U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency required due to ITAR export control regulations.
