Principal Turbomachinery Engineer

About Us

We are a small, fast-moving team building next-generation jet engines for aerospace and defense. Backed by leading investors and led by proven founders, we’re assembling a high-performance team to reinvent propulsion from the ground up. This is a rare chance to create genuinely new technology and to watch it go from a sketch on your screen to hardware that actually enters service.

We design it, analyze it, build it, and test it, often in the same week.

We're seeking a Principal Turbo machinery Engineer to serve as the senior technical authority for our propulsion systems. You'll set the technical direction for turbo machinery development, own system-level architecture, and build the team and processes that get us to production. Hands‑on depth matters as much as strategic thinking.

• Set technical direction for the turbo machinery program: architecture, performance targets, and development approach.
• Lead system-level trades across the full engine cycle and drive multidisciplinary optimization.
• Define analysis standards and review key CFD, FEA, rotor dynamics, and performance work.
• Ensure designs are producible at volume from the start, working closely with manufacturing on castings, forgings, additive, and machined components.
• Define and oversee test campaigns; lead root cause investigations and drive corrective actions.
• Establish the turbo machinery design playbook: standards, processes, and documentation.
• Develop other engineers, make hard architectural calls, and represent turbo machinery in cross‑functional and external forums.

• B.S. or higher in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent depth of experience.
• 12+ years of experience in turbo machinery design for propulsion or high‑performance rotating machinery, including production programs.
• Demonstrated ownership of a turbo machinery system from clean‑sheet concept through validated, production‑intent hardware.
• Expert‑level depth across multiple domains: aerodynamics, structures, heat transfer, rotor dynamics, and performance.
• Track record of leading cross‑functional engineering efforts and making architectural decisions that held up in manufacturing and test.
• Experience building and developing engineering teams.
• High agency, low ego, and relentless focus on execution.
• U.S. Person status required (ITAR‑controlled work).

• Experience at production scale, not just prototype.
• Startup or high‑autonomy environment where you defined the process as much as followed one.
• Ph.D. or equivalent depth in a core turbo machinery domain.
• Experience engaging with customers, government program managers, or investors as a technical authority.

• Own problems the moment you see them — and drive them to resolution regardless of whose area they touch
• Lead by example at every level, and check your ego at the door — the best idea wins, full stop
• Can prioritize ruthlessly when the list is longer than the day
• Believe that discipline and rigor are what create the freedom to move fast — not obstacles to it

Joining a company this early is not for everyone — and the people who do their best work here tend to know exactly why they want it.
What makes it exceptional: you won't be maintaining someone else's legacy. You'll help define the architecture from first principles, follow your work all the way to fielded hardware. You will operate with almost no layers between an idea and a decision. Real breadth, real ownership, real stakes.
What's genuinely hard: ambiguity is the default, the intensity is real, and it carries startup risk. You'll often build the process before you can build the thing. Priorities shift as we learn. If that tradeoff sounds like exactly what you've been looking for, we want to hear from you.

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offers may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and training, critical skills, and business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in most full‑time…