Structural and Mechanical Test Engineer

**Rocket Lab**

Rocket Lab is a vertically integrated provider of small launch services, satellites, and spacecraft components. Our mission is to open access to space to improve life on Earth. Our team is over 1,500 people strong and we're adding to it every week. Collaboration is at our core - every idea is heard, and everyone makes a difference. Teams are nimble, decisions are made quickly, and we are action oriented.

**Life at Rocket Lab**

**While other companies talk about it, we do it**

**About the role**

The Structural & Mechanical Systems team supports the hardware design and development of spacecraft structures, photon platforms and related Payload and Mission Objectives.

The Structural and Mechanical Systems team works closely with other Engineering teams and production to bring new concepts to life. This includes the development of spacecraft systems, related data structures, and documentation to support the associated manufacturing and performance improvements.

Mechanical Development and Test activity is required for different reasons; development and qualification testing of new and existing spacecraft systems, designing and executing acceptance tests to validate that the flight hardware and systems have been manufactured and assembled correctly to function within acceptable performance parameters, and research testing to support investigations arising from a test flight anomaly.

As a Mechanical Development and Test Engineer I, you should be able to work largely unsupervised; drawing from a strong practical and analytical foundation to plan, design and execute test programs to preserve and improve the reliability of spacecraft structures and mechanical systems. The role will require you to take ownership of new components from requirements through to qualification and production ready handover while providing sufficient resource to support both ongoing development of legacy components and production processes. By collaborating with design and analysis team members, you will perform qualification tests, create and refine designs to ensure components and systems meet functional and performance requirements. Propulsion systems and Avionics components and systems are covered by other teams, although coordination across teams is required and occasionally supported with component level testing.

**Essential skills**
- Bachelor's degree in engineering (Aerospace/Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineering preferred)
- 1+ years' development and/or test engineers experience
- Excellent hands on engineering skills.
- Knowledge of instrumentation, signal acquisition (pressure, temperature, Bridge measurements, etc.)
- CAD Experience (NX or SolidWorks preferred)
- Creative, analytical, good at problem solving
- Safety first mindset.
- Clear communication skills
- Calm under pressure

**Desired Skills**
- Postgraduate study in engineering
- Experience with the National Instruments ecosystem
- Measurement error and Error propagation.
- Experience with stored energy systems (Loaded structures, Pneumatic systems, etc.)
- Experience with a scripting language for data processing such as Python or Matlab
- Excellent writing abilities

**Rocket Lab Employee Benefits**
- The opportunity to work on innovative and ground breaking technology
- An employee stock purchase program
- Access to world leading experts to develop your career
- Unlimited barista coffee, fruit, and snacks
- Rocket Lab merchandise - T-shirts, mission patches etc.
- Discounted health insurance with Southern Cross
- Additional parental leave entitlements
- A vibrant team culture with social activities throughout the year

If the above sounds like you **apply** now

Important information:
**FOR CANDIDATES SEEKING TO WORK IN US OFFICES ONLY**:

- To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen as defined by ITAR (22 CFR -120.15) or eligible to obtain the required authorizations fromthe U.S Department of State._
- Rocket Lab provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment at Rocket Lab, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training._

**FOR CANDIDATES SEEKING TO WORK IN NEW ZEALAND OFFICES ONLY**:

- For security reasons background checks will be undertaken prior to any employment offers being made to an applicant. These checks will include nationality checks as it is a requirement of this position that you be eligible to access equipment and data regulated by the United States' International Traffic in Arms Regulati