Senior Flight Safety Engineer– Spaceplane

Join us in developing a remotely operated reusable spaceplane that combines the demanding performance of a rocket with the operational discipline of an aircraft.

We're looking for an experienced engineer to own the flight safety analysis. There is no established playbook for a high-performance aircraft that matches the performance of a rocket, so you will shape one. You will define the methodology, build, validate and verify the, and run the analysis for every mission profile, often while the system design is still maturing. Lead the system safety analyses, including FHA and FTA to ensure that aircraft architecture and system failure rates support the flight safety analysis. This role suits someone who enjoys digging deep into a vehicle design, makes pragmatic engineering judgements, and wants real ownership of how we fly safely. If you want a narrow, heavily structured role, this is probably not for you.

What You'll Do

Own the Part 450 Flight Safety Analysis

• Translate high-level target levels of safety into quantitative safety criteria for the flight safety analysis methodology.
• Own the end-to-end implementation of flight safety analysis methodology, including trajectory modelling, malfunction flight modelling, failure probability analysis, debris modelling, population exposure analysis, and vulnerability modelling.
• Lead development of the flight safety analysis tool and its verification and validation to software qualification standards.
• Assess the vehicle system design at a high level to derive and assign probabilities of failure.
• Run the flight safety analysis for each mission profile, determine flight hazard areas, prepare the analysis content for the Part 102 certification application, and support engagement with the regulator.

Lead Aircraft System Safety

• Perform system safety assessments in accordance with aviation industry practices, including ED-279 & ED-280 methodologies stemming from 14 CFR 25.1309.
• Contribute and review Functional Hazard Assessments for .
• Develop system-level safety requirements and ensure hazards are effectively mitigated.
• Perform or contribute to Fault Tree Analysis, Common Cause Analysis, and reliability analysis in conjunction with aircraft design SMEs.

Specify Flight Abort Behaviour

• Specify the behaviour requirements for the flight termination and abort system, including flight abort rules, and the required response time.
• Work with the engineering teams on flight abort system design and qualification, ensuring it meets requirements and is consistent with the flight safety analysis and, where applicable, RCC319.

What We're Looking For

You are an experienced engineer who takes ownership, enjoys working across disciplines, and is comfortable making sound technical decisions.

We are looking for strong experience in:

• Flight safety analysis for launch or re-entry under Part 450 (or Parts 417/431), or comparable range safety work.
• Quantitative risk, trajectory, or debris modelling, and the verification and qualification of analysis software, methods, and models.
• Functional Hazard Assessment, Hazard Analysis, Fault Tree Analysis, or Common Cause Analysis.
• Systems engineering for complex aerospace or other safety-critical systems.
• Aircraft, spacecraft, launch vehicle, or advanced unmanned aircraft development.

Desirable:

• Experience with Range Commanders Council Standard 319 flight termination system requirements.
• Design, build, or qualification of flight termination systems.

What Makes You Successful

• You quickly understand the strengths and capabilities of the team, adapt your approach accordingly, and raise the technical standard by leading through example.
• You naturally take ownership and drive work to completion.
• You can understand complex systems and make pragmatic engineering decisions.
• You enjoy building practical engineering solutions rather than simply following process.
• You communicate clearly and influence technical direction through sound engineering judgement.

Why Join Us?

This is an opportunity to help develop a first-of-its-kind aerospace vehicle operating at the intersection of aviation and spaceflight. You'll have genuine ownership of critical vehicle functions, work alongside highly capable engineers, and help solve technical challenges that don't exist anywhere else in the industry.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Dawn Aerospace, we believe that diverse teams build better solutions. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences are valued and supported to do their best work.

About Dawn Aerospace

Dawn Aerospace is a space transportation company with a purpose.

Our mission is to enable the next generation of space users by providing more sustainable and scalable ways to access and move around in space. We believe this access, in the form of a transportation network, will fundamentally change what’s possible from space. We currently focus on three areas of space transportation:

• In-space propulsion

  We're a leading supplier of turnkey green propulsion systems for various classes of satellites. Our systems utilise safe, accessible propellants and we have over 170 of these propulsion units on more than 40 operational satellites already. A further 200 units are in production.

• In-space servicing

  Coupled with our propulsion expertise, we are ensuring that our customers' satellites are refuellable. In the coming years, Dawn will offer a refueling service to enable life extension of customer satellites. This new market is aligned with our sustainability goal to ensue a clean and safe space for everyone! 

• Spaceplane

  We are developing the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever to take off from a runway, combining the extreme performance of rocket propulsion with the reusability of conventional airplanes to enable high-frequency, low-cost access to sub-orbital space.

Our international teams are distributed across four locations: the Netherlands, France, New Zealand, and the USA.

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Important!

If you think you have what it takes but are unsure that you check every box, we still want to hear from you.

To all recruitment agencies: Dawn Aerospace does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our job’s alias, our employees, or any other company location. Dawn Aerospace will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.