engineering applied sciencecombustion instabilityhot fire testingliquid rocket enginesturbopumps
Complete evaluation framework
What to assess and how to score it
Review the evidence signals before interviewing. Then use the anchored descriptions—not instinct alone—to choose the score that best matches each answer.
01
Evaluation factor
Technical depth
35% weight
Probe depth in cycle analysis, injector and regen channel design, combustion stability, and tools they name: NASA CEA, RPA, Fluent, Cantera, plus chamber sizing and c-star efficiency math.
Evidence to listen for
Explains the physics or mechanism behind their work, not just the tooling
Names the standards, tolerances, and constraints they designed against
Can defend a design decision under follow-up questions
Distinguishes what they personally engineered from what the team delivered
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
Cannot explain the fundamentals of their own stated specialism.
2
Needs Improvement
Knows the vocabulary but not the underlying mechanism; struggles under follow-ups.
3
Satisfactory
Solid working knowledge for the role; depth thins out on edge cases.
4
Very Good
Strong command of the domain; explains trade-offs and defends decisions well.
5
Excellent
Talks fluently about mixture ratio trades, film cooling margins, and acoustic modes, citing real chamber pressures and measured c-star efficiencies.
02
Evaluation factor
Work that shipped
30% weight
Ask which engines or stages they took to hot fire: thrust class, propellant combination, test stand, burn duration, and their specific ownership of hardware versus analysis.
Evidence to listen for
Names specific programmes, parts, or systems that reached production or field use
States their own scope inside the project
Can give measured outcomes: yield, cycle time, cost, failure rate
Explains what went wrong and what they changed
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
No delivered work; experience is coursework, lab-only, or purely observational.
2
Needs Improvement
Contributed to projects but cannot say what shipped or what their part was.
3
Satisfactory
Has delivered real work; outcomes described without numbers.
4
Very Good
Names shipped work and their scope, with some measured results.
5
Excellent
Names engines that fired, with thrust, propellants, cumulative test seconds, and a clear boundary of what they personally designed or ran.
03
Evaluation factor
Diagnosis under uncertainty
20% weight
Test how they chased anomalies: hard starts, chugging, injector burn-through, valve chatter. Look for use of high-speed data, strain and pressure traces, and post-test teardown findings.
Evidence to listen for
Describes a real failure they chased to root cause
Shows a method: isolate variables, reproduce, measure, eliminate
Distinguishes correlation from cause
Says what they ruled out and why, not only what the answer turned out to be
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
No diagnostic method; guesses or escalates immediately.
2
Needs Improvement
Trial and error with no structure; cannot explain how they narrowed the cause.
3
Satisfactory
Reasonable method on familiar problems; less structured on novel ones.
4
Very Good
Clear systematic approach with a real root-cause story.
5
Excellent
Reconstructs a failure from transducer data and hardware evidence, states the root cause, and describes the design change that closed it.
04
Evaluation factor
Working across the org
15% weight
Assess how they worked with structures, avionics, GSE, and test operations on TVC interfaces, propellant loading procedures, and range or FAA safety documentation.
Evidence to listen for
Explains technical constraints to non-technical stakeholders without condescension
Has negotiated scope, cost, or timeline with manufacturing, product, or suppliers
Documents decisions so others can act on them
Takes review feedback without defensiveness
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
Cannot communicate outside their specialism; dismissive of other functions.
2
Needs Improvement
Communication gaps cause rework; avoids stakeholder contact.
3
Satisfactory
Works adequately with other teams; documentation is thin.
4
Very Good
Communicates clearly across functions; reliable collaborator.
5
Excellent
Describes negotiating real interface conflicts across teams and writing procedures that test operators and safety reviewers actually accepted.
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