Calculous: Lead Propulsion Engineer

This is not a job. This is a commitment.

Calculous exists to push humanity toward reusable launch systems and long-term multi-planetary presence .

We are starting at the hardest place possible:

propulsion built from first principles, tested in the real world, with no safety net.

No PR.

No grants-first approach.

No waiting for permission.

If this mission does not already matter to you, stop reading.

There is no propulsion team.

There is no hierarchy.

There is no roadmap handed to you.

There is only:

• A founder
• A test site
• Hardware that must work

This role exists because engines dont build themselves .

We are looking for one engineer who:

• Identifies as a builder , not a manager
• Is uncomfortable with comfort
• Would rather test and fail than discuss and plan
• Wants to put their fingerprints on the first working engine

You will not join a team.

You will be the propulsion team .

• Design liquid rocket engines from scratch
• Build injectors, chambers, feed systems yourself
• Assemble and run cold-flow and hot-fire tests
• Break hardware, learn fast, iterate faster
• Make real engineering trade-offs under constraints

If your instinct is to ask who will help me with this?

This is not your role.

• We will not hire managers
• We will not build decks before hardware
• We will not optimize for comfort or optics
• We will not slow down for consensus

• 5+ years of hands-on engineering
• You have personally built and tested real hardware
• You can work with incomplete information
• You understand that failure is data

Degrees, titles, and brand names matter less than what youve built .

• This is early, risky, and uncertain
• Cash is minimal initially
• Equity is meaningful
• You are betting on the mission, not a salary

If you need stability, this will feel reckless.

Thats intentional.

• You would regret not trying
• You think about rockets even when no one asks
• You dont need daily validation
• You can sit alone with a hard problem for month

Send:

1. A short background (resume/LinkedIn optional)
2. A direct answer to:
3. Why propulsion, and why now?
4. Evidence of something real youve built

If Calculous succeeds, history will not remember who managed the process.

It will remember who built the engine .