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Ordnance Engineer

Cowboy Space Corporation· Launch & Propulsion Engineering
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Kent, Washington$140k - $200kFull-timePosted 1mo ago

About the role

Ordnance Engineer responsible for all energetic devices on the vehicle and the energetics on the ground, including pyro-valves, initiation trains, safe-and-arm devices, and compliance with safety and regulatory requirements. First-hire role building the ordnance discipline from the ground up, spanning vendor engagement, qualification, and site/compliance management.

Responsibilities

  • Define the ordnance architecture for the vehicle: any pyro-actuated valve or mechanism
  • Select, specify, and qualify the hardware: initiators and detonators, safe-and-arm and electronic safe-and-arm devices, through-bulkhead initiators, detonating cord and transfer lines, shaped charge, frangible joints, separation nuts, and pin pullers
  • Own the energetics side of the initiation chain: no-fire and all-fire current, firing margin, function time and margin, and the inadvertent-initiation analysis on your side of the connector
  • Own the environmental and susceptibility case: HERO and RF susceptibility per MIL-STD-464, ESD, bonding and grounding, thermal, vibration, and shock
  • Run the qualification campaigns: component-level, subsystem-level, and full-system demonstrations, with the margin and safety-factor testing that MIL-STD-1576 requires
  • Own hazard classification, net explosive weight, and the explosive site plan: quantity-distance arcs, siting, and the compatibility rules that constrain where things can live
  • Stand up storage and magazine licensing, and own ATF, DOT, and DESR 6055.09 / DoD 4145.26-M compliance for buying, storing, shipping, and handling

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, chemical, or electrical engineering, or similar
  • 5-10 years of experience in ordnance, pyrotechnics, or energetic systems on launch vehicles, missiles, or spacecraft
  • Hands-on experience taking an ordnance device or an initiation train through qualification
  • Working command of MIL-STD-1576 and the explosives safety regime around it: hazard classification, quantity-distance, and the DoD and ATF rules that govern energetics on the ground
  • Electrical fluency sufficient to argue about the firing chain: bridgewire and exploding-foil devices, no-fire and all-fire current, firing margin, ESD and RF susceptibility, and the analysis showing inadvertent initiation cannot happen
  • Real knowledge of energetic materials: what the common formulations do, how they age, what they are compatible with, and what temperature and vacuum do to them
  • Excellent written communication
  • Reusable vehicle experience: safing recovered hardware and requalifying or replacing ordnance after flight

Skills

Required:Ordnance engineeringMIL-STD-1576Firing chain analysisRegulatory compliance (ATF/DOT/DESR)

Benefits

  • Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and eligible dependents
  • 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
Last updated Sep 20, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Cowboy Space Corporation

Powering Humanity From the High Frontier

Cowboy Space Corp. is building a power grid in outer space for artificial intelligence. It is an integrated system of satellites and rockets to haul high-performance compute and optical data transmission down from Low Earth Orbit. Earth's energy grid can't run at the pace of AI. We can.

Orbital Data CentersAI compute in spacesolar-powered data centersLow Earth Orbitpower grid in space
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