Head, Propulsion

Location: Toronto, Canada

Department: Engineering

About the role

Canada Rocket Company is building a sovereign launch capability for Canada. We're looking for a Head of Propulsion Systems to build and lead the team responsible for the propulsion and fluid systems on the vehicle. This is both a leadership and technical role. As a demonstrated leader, strategic manager, technically proficient engineer you will guide the team through design, development, operation, and reuse of propulsion and stage fluid systems.  

What you'll do

• Steer the technical direction and architecture for propulsion and vehicle fluid systems. 

• Drive development, qualification, production, flight, and reuse of propulsion and vehicle fluid systems. 

• Manage propulsion and fluid systems’ schedule, budget, resources, risk, design reviews, as well as suppliers and subcontractors. 

• Plan, coordinate, and oversee concurrent propulsion subsystem programs. 

• Build, lead, and mentor an exceptional multidisciplinary team consisting of systems engineers, combustion devices engineers, turbomachinery engineers, components engineers, thermal analysts, fluid analysts, structural analysts, and more. 

• Instill a culture of extreme ownership and efficient actions. 

• Coordinating efforts spanning departments. 

• Interfacing with customers, launch operators, or government agencies (e.g., FAA, NASA, DoD) on propulsion certification. 

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in design, analysis, development, qualification, and operation of liquid bipropellant rocket engines with appreciable durations both as an individual contributor and leader. 

• Proven ability to build and lead engineering teams, including hiring, mentoring, and establishing processes from an early stage. 

• Inclination toward a fast-paced, resource-constrained, environment with rapid hardware development using iterative design-build-test cycles that are central to the engineering culture. 

• Experience with sizing, material selection, fabrication processes, and developing injectors, chambers, and or nozzles. 

• Awareness of basic turbomachinery configurations, operations, and performance parameters. 

• Analyze or trade propulsion elements using first order thermodynamic, fluid mechanics, and structural mechanics analyses. 

• Proficiency designing, analyzing, and interpreting complex fluid systems as well as understanding the behaviour of the mechanisms in those systems. 

• Experience sizing and using components such as solenoid / pneumatic / hydraulic valves, regulators, check valves, relief valves, filters, pressure transducers, thermocouples, flow meters, etc 

• Experience sizing and using plumbing parts including tubing, piping, flanges, gaskets, o-rings, fittings, etc. 

• Proficiency applying first principles to identify solutions not traditionally considered. 

• Issue identification, diagnosis, and resolution including Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Fault Tree Analysis, and Fishbone analysis. 

• Experience preparing for and participating in test and or flight campaigns. 

• Hazardous operations (HAZOP) planning and safety culture leadership. 

• Functional proficiency in Visio, CAD, and Python. 

• Familiarity with CGP, EIPA, ITAR, etc regulations. 

• Stakeholder reporting to senior leadership and customers. 

• Proposal writing and business development exposure. 

About the Company

About Canada Rocket Company

Canada Rocket Company is developing Canada's first medium-lift launch vehicle.  

We are a team of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, ArianeGroup, Pangea Propulsion, Tesla, MDA, and more, bringing over a century of combined launch and space systems experience back to Canada.  

Our mission is to provide reliable, independent access to space for Canada and its allies in a rapidly expanding global market.  

Our approach is defined by pragmatic engineering:  

• We utilize a single 750 kN engine that scales from light- to medium-lift via engine clustering.  

• We lean on simple, proven technologies to reach orbit faster, avoiding the pitfalls of complex or novel designs.  

• We test early and often, catching problems on the bench instead of at the pad.  

Backed by over $20M in funding secured within our first four months, including the largest all-Canadian seed round in the sector and an $8.3M Department of National Defence grant, we are moving with the speed and institutional backing required to meet Canada’s orbital launch needs.