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The Exploration Company is developing Nyx, a modular and reusable space orbital vehicle designed for cargo transport and eventual human missions. As a Valve Development Engineer, you will lead the design and development of solenoid isolation valves for the storable propulsion system, owning the complete lifecycle from concept through qualification.
You will be responsible for designing and maturing valve architecture, including poppet/seat design, actuation mechanisms, and sealing concepts to meet functional and interface requirements. This involves performing mechanical sizing, trade studies on force margins, spring rates, stroke, and response time to support critical design decisions.
Electromagnetic and actuation design is a core responsibility—you will design and analyze solenoid actuators including coil, armature, and magnetic circuit to meet response time, power, and force margin requirements. You'll collaborate with electrical engineers on coil drive electronics and EMI/EMC considerations, managing trade-offs between actuation force, power consumption, and thermal dissipation.
Materials and sealing expertise is essential. You will select materials and seal designs compatible with storable propellants, ensuring long-term compatibility and minimal permeation/leakage. You'll define sealing concepts—elastomeric or metal-to-metal—balancing leak-tightness, cycle life, and contamination sensitivity, coordinating with materials engineering on propellant-wetted material qualification.
Design verification and cross-functional coordination round out the role. You will define and support verification plans for valve qualification, working closely with test engineers on test setup and success criteria. You'll collaborate with manufacturing engineers to ensure design manufacturability and testability, and support anomaly investigations and root cause analysis, feeding lessons learned back into design iterations.
The role is based primarily in Bordeaux with occasional travel to Munich. You will work autonomously while collaborating with multidisciplinary teams in a fast-paced, agile environment focused on democratizing space access.
