The posting
We are looking for a Quality Assurance Engineer to join our In-Space Propulsion team and take ownership of quality across our propulsion products and customer programmes.
You'll work closely with engineering, manufacturing and customers, applying recognised aerospace quality standards while taking a lean and pragmatic approach to how those requirements are implemented. The role spans multiple mission classes and covers both product and programme quality, from prototype development through to small-series production.
This is a role with significant autonomy and direct customer interaction, where you'll play a key role in ensuring our propulsion products meet the quality requirements of our customers and their missions.
The Quality Assurance Engineer reports to the VP In-Space Propulsion (The Netherlands).
What you'll be doing
Customer & Programme Quality
- Own Quality Assurance Plans (QAPs) for in-space propulsion products and customer programmes.
- Act as the primary quality point of contact for customers.
- Organise and participate in quality control boards, including EQSR, MPCB, PCB and RCB.
- Manage and report non-conformances, deviations and corrective actions across customer programmes.
- Work closely with engineering and programme teams to ensure quality requirements are understood and applied throughout product delivery.
Product & Production Quality
- Maintain approved materials, mechanical parts and process lists for propulsion systems.
- Support propulsion system safety reviews, including range safety and related hazard analysis.
- Manage and coordinate key product and production quality activities, including: Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) metrology and calibration traceability trend analysis production process control
- Support the implementation of quality processes across prototype and small-series production.
Quality Systems & Continuous Improvement
- Audit internal processes and drive improvements arising from audit findings.
- Support the continuous improvement of quality across our in-space propulsion activities.
- Own and maintain the internal quality handbook system.
- Help ensure quality processes are robust and practical for a fast-moving engineering and production environment.
What we're looking for
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering.
- Quality Assurance training or equivalent practical experience.
- Five+ years' experience in a Quality Assurance role.
- Experience establishing, implementing and maintaining quality systems, ideally within aerospace or another highly regulated engineering environment.
- Experience implementing quality processes across prototype and small-series production.
- Experience applying quality standards relevant to aerospace or the space industry, such as AS9100 or ECSS.
- Experience working directly with customers, safety organisations or certification bodies.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively across a geographically distributed international team.
- A proactive approach, with the ability to work independently and exercise sound engineering judgement.
- Confidence using data to support quality decisions.
Nice to have
- Training or practical experience in process improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma.
- Experience working across both product quality and customer programme quality.
- Experience with safety reviews or hazard analysis for complex engineered products.
Why join Dawn?
At Dawn Aerospace, you'll have the opportunity to shape how quality is applied across propulsion systems supporting a wide variety of space missions.
You'll work alongside engineering and manufacturing teams throughout the product lifecycle, while also working directly with customers to ensure programme requirements are met. Rather than inspecting quality at the end of the process, you'll help build it into our products from development through to production.
This role will suit someone who enjoys working across engineering, manufacturing and customer programmes, and who can balance quality, risk and delivery in a fast-moving engineering environment.
Note that the role is a permanent position that will start with a fixed-term contract of 12 months.
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.
