Staff Ground Support Engineer

Location: Galeton & Berthoud, Colorado

Ursa Major develops, manufactures, and tests solid rocket motors for modern defense applications, with a focus on building a high-performance test and evaluation enterprise that enables safe, repeatable, and scalable propulsion development. The organization is evolving toward a tightly integrated test infrastructure stack spanning facilities, fluid systems, controls, instrumentation, and data systems.

As a Staff Ground Support Engineer, you will serve as the technical authority for the architecture, integration, and lifecycle strategy for ground test infrastructure used in propulsion testing, including static fire stands, fluid-mechanical systems, ground support equipment (GSE), and integrated controls, and data acquisition systems. You will define and govern system-level design standards, interface architectures, and reliability expectations that scale across multiple test assets and programs.

You will serve as a technical leader at active test sites and field locations, responsible not only for hands-on system build, modification, and troubleshooting, but also for providing guidance on complex engineering approaches across teams, resolving cross-domain integration issues, and improving system robustness through structured root cause analysis and design feedback loops. In collaboration with test technicians, propulsion engineers, EHS and operations teams, you will ensure test campaigns are executed safely and repeatably while continuously improving the underlying infrastructure that enables them.

Key Responsibilities

Integrated Test Systems & Infrastructure Ownership

• Own end-to-end architecture, design, commissioning, and lifecycle sustainment of scalable propulsion test infrastructure supporting multiple solid rocket motor programs across R&D, qualification, and production acceptance phases
• Lead design and integration of fluid systems (high-pressure gas, pneumatic, hydraulic, and GSE), including system architecture, safety-critical design decisions, and interface control across mechanical, electrical, and controls domains.
• Define, design and build industrial electrical and controls architecture for propulsion test facilities, including power distribution, grounding/bonding systems, interlock safety, PLC/controls standards, and facility automation.
• Own instrumentation and data acquisition architecture across test assets, including sensor strategy, signal integrity standards, calibration frameworks, distributed DAQ system design, and data quality assurance pipelines; ensure decision-grade data reliability from field acquisition through control room consumption.
• Serve as the technical authority for static fire campaigns, establishing test readiness criteria, integrated system validation strategy, and structuring anomaly resolution to ensure safe operations and high-confidence test outcomes.

Safety and Operational Excellence

• Partner with EHS to co-develop and continuously improve test safety systems, including hazard analysis standards, operational safety protocols, and compliance frameworks aligned with applicable regulatory requirements, energetic material handling standards, and internal test infrastructure policies.
• Serve as a technical authority on safety analysis for test range operations, including overpressure, fragment hazard analysis, environmental hazard characterization, and derivation of exclusion zones.
• Serve as a technical authority and mentor for hazardous test operations involving energetic systems, high-pressure fluids, and integrated controls infrastructure to provide oversight for complex or non-standard test configurations.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Influence technical strategy and decision-making across engineering, manufacturing, operations, facilities, and program teams to enable high-velocity test–design–iterate cycles.
• Assist in strategic planning for long-term test infrastructure evolution, including multi-site facility architecture, capital investment roadmaps, modernization initiatives, and scalability strategies that increase throughput, standardization, and operational resilience across the test enterprise.
• Mentor and develop engineers across disciplines, providing technical coaching, design reviews, and guidance on systems engineering, controls systems, test operations, and infrastructure reliability.
• Act as a recognized subject matter expert for propulsion test infrastructure, providing technical consultation to leadership and serving as a key contributor to long-range facility, technology, and capability planning.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 8+ years of experience in propulsion testing, aerospace systems, energy systems, heavy industry, or other high-consequence hardware environments, with demonstrated progression toward system ownership and technical leadership.
• Proven experience designing, integrating, commissioning, or operating complex test infrastructure (test stands, GSE, or integrated test systems) for hazardous, high-energy, or tightly coupled electromechanical systems.
• Strong proficiency in industrial controls and data systems, including PLC-based control architectures, National Instruments (or equivalent) DAQ systems, and 3D CAD tools (NX, CATIA, SolidWorks, Inventor, or equivalent)
• Deep working knowledge of hazardous system domains, such as energetic materials, high-pressure gas systems, cryogenic systems, or industrial electrical power and protection systems, including their design constraints and failure modes.
• Demonstrated ability to lead execution of complex test campaigns, including test readiness, integrated system validation, operational leadership, and post-test analysis with a focus on safety, repeatability, and data integrity.
• Ability to obtain explosive permits from the ATF and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret Security Clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on and architectural experience with static fire test infrastructure, including test stands, hazardous GSE, blast-resistant systems, and integrated fluid, electrical, and controls subsystems in operational test ranges.
• Proven ability to design and scale novel or non-standard test infrastructure in ambiguous, resource-constrained, or rapidly evolving development environments, with emphasis on robustness, repeatability, and operational readiness.
• Experience driving multi-year infrastructure roadmaps, capital planning efforts, and facility-scale modernization initiatives, translating test and program needs into scalable, long-term technical architecture decisions.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

• Hands-on work in austere and remote propulsion test environments with exposure to loud noise, hazardous materials, outdoor conditions, and hazardous operations.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs. and operate hand tools and mechanical equipment as needed.
• Ability to support occasional off-shift, weekend, and remote test operations depending on campaign schedules and program needs.

Colorado law requires us to tell you the base compensation range of this role, which is $129,000 - $161,000, determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. What we can’t quantify for you are the exciting challenges, supportive team, and amazing culture we enjoy.

Classification: Full-time Exempt