Chief Engineer, Hypersonic Vehicle (Hypersonic)

Location: Mojave, California, United States; strongly preferred fully on-site, with hybrid consideration requiring at least 75–80% on-site time

Salary: $157,000–$206,000 for Staff level; $181,000–$237,300 for Principal level. Senior Principal compensation is listed as "$k".

Company

hirify.global engineers reusable air-launched testbeds and operationally realistic flight testing at Mach 5+ to support hypersonic technology development and national security programs.

What you will do

• Serve as the top technical authority for hypersonic air vehicle development programs and provide technical leadership across the organization.
• Lead multidisciplinary trade studies and make final technical decisions across aerodynamics, propulsion, avionics, structures, controls, and aero-thermodynamics.
• Apply systems engineering principles to control scope, manage risk, and drive quality technical execution.
• Support ground and flight test planning and execution, aircraft and store certification, maintenance, and operations.
• Partner with program directors, managers, support functions, customers, and external stakeholders to execute programs successfully.
• Develop engineering staffing plans, identify skill gaps, support proposals, and facilitate technical reviews including SRR, PDR, and CDR.

Requirements

• Demonstrated success leading engineering teams and balancing cost, schedule, and technical performance.
• Experience as a front-line manager of technical employees, including recruiting and hiring engineers.
• Experience maintaining, modifying, or testing aerospace platforms and acting as a program integrator or prime contractor.
• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, communication, interpersonal, and customer-interaction skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in an applicable field and 10–20 years of relevant experience for Staff level, or 20+ years of engineering experience for Principal level; equivalent combinations may be considered.
• Must be a US Citizen with the ability to obtain a Department of Defense security clearance.

Nice to have

• Experience as Chief Engineer for development programs and in hypersonic or supersonic vehicle development.
• Defense contract or classified program experience, including hypersonic/high-speed tactical missile systems.
• Rocket propulsion experience and familiarity with Siemens NX/Teamcenter.
• Active TS/SCI security clearance.

Culture & Benefits

• 9/80 work schedule.
• Medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Paid maternity and parental leave.
• 50% company match on employee 401(k) contributions, up to $11,500.
• Tuition reimbursement and less than 10% travel expected as needed.