If you’ve built race cars, hydraulic systems, industrial machinery, or complex mechanical systems and enjoy hands-on engineering, we’d like to hear from you

At Dawn Aerospace, we build world-leading propulsion systems for satellites operating in space today and tomorrow. Dawn pioneered the use of Nitrous Oxide and Propene as our combustible propellants which is today manoeuvring over 40 satellites in-orbit, and many more to come.

We are looking for a practical, driven mechanical engineer to help develop and test high-performance propulsion hardware, especially our critical fluid components. In this role, you and the team are responsible for the entire lifecycle of new products. This role is ideal for someone from an automotive, motorsport, hydraulics, refrigerants, pneumatics, heavy equipment, or advanced manufacturing background who enjoys solving real engineering problems and getting hands-on with hardware. If you want to take your experience to the next level, it doesn’t get much harder than space.

You do not need prior aerospace experience. We care more about engineering fundamentals, attitude of extreme ownership, mechanical intuition, and the ability to get things done in a fast-moving environment.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Design and develop mechanical components and assemblies for high-pressure thermo-fluid systems

• Work on valves, regulators, tanks, tubing systems, structural components, and test equipment

• Build, assemble, troubleshoot, and improve prototype hardware

• Develop and perform mechanical and fluid system tests

• Analyse failures, identify root causes, and implement practical solutions

• Support manufacturing and supplier engagement to ensure parts are robust and producible at scale

• Collaborate closely with design, test, manufacturing, and systems engineers as well as customers located around the world

• Contribute to rapid iteration and continuous product improvement

We’re Interested In People With Experience In Any Of

• Automotive engineering

• Motorsport or racing systems

• Hydraulics or pneumatics

• Industrial fluid systems

• Aerospace

• Advanced manufacturing

• Test and development engineering

• Heavy machinery or performance equipment

What We’re Looking For

• Mechanical engineering degree or equivalent practical industry experience

• Strong problem-solving ability

• Hands-on engineering mindset

• CAD experience (SolidWorks or similar)

• Understanding of pressure systems, valves, fittings, tubing, pumps, regulators, or fluid control systems

• Ability to work independently and move quickly

• Comfortable working in workshop and test environments

• Strong attitude, initiative, and willingness to learn

Bonus Experience

• High-pressure systems

• Refrigerants

• Vacuum systems

• Test or reliability engineering

• Data acquisition and instrumentation

• FEA, CFD or other simulation tools

• Coding

• Precision machining or manufacturing processes

• Experience working in fast-paced R&D environments and across full product lifecycles.

Why Join Dawn Aerospace?

• Work on real hardware that operates in space

• Small team with high ownership and fast decision-making

• Combination of design, testing, manufacturing, and development work

• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge satellite technology without needing prior aerospace experience

• Work in one of New Zealand’s fastest growing high-tech companies

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.