Senior Powerpack Manufacturing Engineer

Background

Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.

Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases.

Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others.

This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.

About the Role

Own how the turbopump hardware gets manufactured and pumps get built. You own all the way from directing DfM for new and existing components, to setting the direction for manufacturing of the components and the final assembly of the turbopumps.

Responsibilities

• Bring a culture of creativity to every design and manufacturing challenge, ask the hard questions, and own each fix or improvement with true accountability, and see it through to completion.
• Own build process definition for turbopump hardware: routings, work instructions, process specifications, and the inspection plan at each step.
• Own turbopump assembly on the floor-fit-up, clearance and stack-up verification, rotor balance, torque and preload control, and final acceptance of the built unit.
• Design and build tooling and fixtures for machining, assembly, and handling of rotating and static hardware at the component fabrication and assembly levels.
• Drive design iteration for DfM and cost
• Own cleanliness and contamination control for pumps, including cleaning processes, verification, and packaging.
• Disposition nonconformances, lead rework and repair development, and eliminate issues at their root.
• Own build cycle time, yield, and rate readiness-identify the constraint, fix it, and scale the process from first article to repeatable production.
• Support suppliers on process capability, first article, and lead qualification of new processes and equipment brought in house.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Aerospace, or related engineering field.
• Working knowledge of precision machining, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), tolerance stack-ups, and dimensional inspection including but not limited to coordinate measurement machines (CMM).
• Hands-on ownership of build and assembly processes on the floor.
• Experience dispositioning nonconforming hardware and developing rework or repair workscopes.

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years of manufacturing or development/production engineering experience on precision mechanical, rotating, or propulsion hardware.
• Experience building liquid rocket engine turbopumps or comparable high-speed rotating assemblies.
• Experience with rotor balancing, bearing and dynamic seal installation, and assembly clearance control.
• Experience with welding, brazing, or additive manufacturing process development and qualification, including non-destructive evaluation (NDE).
• Experience authoring work instructions and process specifications, and qualifying them through verification and validation.
• Experience designing, analyzing, and procuring tooling for manufacturing and assembly.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $180,000 - $210,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off
• 10 paid holidays per calendar year
• Paid parental leave
• Relocation assistance if applicable
• Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

ITAR Requirements

• Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.