Valve Lead Engineer

Valve Lead Engineer

Pangea Propulsion

Toulouse, France

About the role

We are seeking a hands-on valve expert who will serve as Pangea’s company-wide technical authority for valves. The mission is to build the internal capability to specify, design, analyse, source, test, qualify, industrialise, and continuously improve critical valves for our propulsion systems.

The first priority will be to assess and internalise selected valves used on Nereus, starting where technically and commercially justified with HTP-compatible valves. The scope can then expand to other valve families and propulsion programmes based on risk, recurring cost, lead time, supply-chain dependence, and strategic value.

This is a senior individual-contributor role with strong technical leadership. You will work closely with Fluidics and across Systems, Design, Analysis, Materials, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Test, and Operations, taking decisions from first principles and carrying them through to validated hardware.

Key responsibilities

• Act as Pangea’s technical reference for valves, owning design decisions, technical reviews, risk acceptance, and the valve technology roadmap across propulsion programmes.
• Define the valve internalisation strategy and prioritise candidates using performance, safety, development risk, recurring cost, lead time, supplier dependence, and manufacturing scalability.
• Lead the initial Nereus workstream for HTP-compatible solenoid valves: capture requirements and interfaces; benchmark make-versus-buy options; select concepts; and define the development and qualification plan.
• Own the full product lifecycle - from requirements, architecture, trade-offs, detailed design, analysis, materials and sealing selection through prototyping, testing, qualification, production release, and in-service improvement.
• Develop or approve valve sizing and dynamic models covering flow capacity and pressure drop, actuation force and margin, response time, leakage, thermal effects, friction, hysteresis, fatigue, wear, contamination sensitivity, and lifetime.
• Establish verification logic, acceptance criteria, instrumentation, test matrices, and qualification evidence for nominal, off-nominal, proof, endurance, environmental, and compatibility testing.
• Ensure compatibility with HTP and, as applicable, cryogenic, high-pressure, hot, reactive, or hazardous fluids through disciplined materials, cleanliness, sealing, lubrication, and contamination-control choices.
• Resolve difficult hardware problems through structured failure investigation, test-data interpretation, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and design iteration.
• Lead technical engagement with valve, actuator, coil, seal, and manufacturing suppliers; review proposals, drawings, analyses, process controls, inspection plans, qualification evidence, deviations, and non-conformances.
• Create reusable internal standards, design rules, calculation methods, test procedures, lessons learned, and product architectures, while mentoring engineers and raising valve competence across the company.

Initial Mandate

Build a credible make-versus-buy and development plan for Nereus HTP-compatible solenoid valves, close the highest-risk knowledge gaps with analysis and testing, and leave behind a repeatable internal valve-development capability.

What you need to be successful

Education

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechatronics, Fluid Mechanics, or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Additional specialization in fluid systems, cryogenics, mechanical design, tribology, sealing technology, materials, or control systems would be advantageous.

Experience

• 8 to 10 years or more of relevant engineering experience, with substantial direct ownership of valve or closely related fluid-control hardware.
• Demonstrated hands-on delivery of hardware from requirements and concept selection through detailed design, test, qualification, and production support.
• Deep experience with solenoid, pilot-operated, pneumatic, electro-mechanical, or comparable valves for demanding applications.
• Experience with high-pressure, reactive, hazardous, cryogenic, or high-temperature fluid systems; liquid rocket propulsion or space hardware experience is strongly preferred.
• Evidence of solving real valve failure modes and working directly with manufacturing, suppliers, inspection teams, test facilities, and non-conformance processes.

Technical expertise

• Strong command of valve architecture, fluid mechanics, actuation, sealing, tribology, tolerancing, material selection, cleanliness, and design for manufacture and assembly.
• Ability to size and analyse valves using appropriate analytical and numerical methods, and to correlate models with component and system test data.
• Proven capability investigating leakage, friction, hysteresis, pressure drop, response time, actuation margin, contamination, wear, fatigue, thermal effects, and lifetime.
• Working knowledge of qualification logic, reliability, FMEA, fracture and fatigue considerations, configuration control, and technical documentation for safety-critical hardware.
• Knowledge of HTP compatibility, decomposition hazards, compatible materials and seals, cleanliness, and safe test practices is highly valuable.

Leadership

• Strong technical ownership: comfortable making and documenting difficult decisions, while actively seeking challenge and evidence.
• System-level thinking, with the ability to connect valve behaviour to engine, propulsion-system, test-bench, and vehicle performance.
• Pragmatic judgement that balances technical excellence with safety, schedule, cost, manufacturability, maintainability, and qualification effort.
• Clear communication across disciplines and with suppliers, including the ability to turn ambiguous problems into structured plans and crisp technical requirements.
• Builder’s mindset: equally willing to work at a whiteboard, review a drawing, analyse data, inspect hardware, and support a test campaign.

Additional assets

• Advanced education: Postgraduate specialisation in fluid mechanics, cryogenics, sealing, tribology, mechatronics, controls, or mechanical design.
• Relevant sectors: Space propulsion, aerospace, energy, hydrogen, oil and gas, chemical processing, or other high-pressure and hazardous-fluid industries.
• Specialised expertise: HTP service, cryogenic valves, high-pressure solenoid valves, pilot-operated architectures, sealing technologies, actuation systems, materials compatibility, cleanliness, or lifetime qualification.