# Jesse Dennis, PE > Engineer Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/jessedennispe I am driven to learn, solve problems, and maximize impact on our world as an engineer. I use my highly cross-disciplinary and cross-industry experience to identify and pursue opportunities where I can effectively and positively create change. ## Work Experience ### Senior Software Engineer @ EUV Tech Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Working on software for EUV technology with a pretty cool team. ### Lead Systems Engineer @ Nexogen, Inc. Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 We built an electrically accelerated, Rolling Circle Amplification, 100 gene multiplex, point of care system that was fully automated from sample (blood) to answer in less than 30 minutes as a part of the DARPA Epigenetic Characterization and Observation (ECHO) program. We focused on ATAC sequence and MRNA gene signatures to differentiate host response to viral and bacterial signatures. In plain English: we reduced blood analysis - which currently requires taking a vial of blood and waiting a couple days while it ships to dedicated lab with a room full of equipment - to a device the size of a small coffee machine that you just put a drop of your blood in and wait a few minutes for the answer. We increased the number of genes measured to 100 instead of the 10 normally measured in blood, and we were likely the first people ever to fully automate the ATAC assay. We succeeded at what DARPA wanted where others failed and did so with technologies that consumers can afford to buy and use in their homes, which will be the next major step in personalized medicine. Frankly, it should be a no brainer for this product to be developed further and brought to market. However, the ECHO program ended and we were unable to find funding to navigate FDA and further development - so the technology is sitting on a shelf until that changes. As the company Lead Engineer I did the following things: ● Responsible for all company Software, Mechanical, Electrical designs. ● Coordinating with Molecular Biologists for product design, planning work for engineering team ● Planning work for technicians, verifying work done. ● Building prototype microfluidic, fluorescence detection, magnetic bead, and hydrogel Rolling Circle Amplification architectures ● Met and exceeded extremely aggressive DARPA device requirements ● Verified capabilities on clinical samples ● Delivered final device and cartridges meeting and exceeding project goals ### Starship Senior Launch Engineer @ SpaceX Jan 2022 – Jan 2022 | Brownsville, Texas, United States I lived and worked at the Boca Chica facility, focused on building the Orbital Launch Pad. ● Building and activating Starship Orbital Launch Pad ● Responsible Engineer for Methane system including build, verification, and operations. ● Planning, running, and verifying 24/7 work on pad for fluidic, mechanical, instrumentation, and civil projects. ● Providing guidance and signoff to junior engineers ### Software Engineer Specialist @ Ball Aerospace Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | Denver, Colorado, United States I primarily worked on building the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope. Roman will assist the James Webb Space Telescope in L2 and has similar optic range and resolution to Hubble but a much wider view. I spent my time writing software in LabVIEW, python, and Ruby, and also creating test plans meeting ISO-9001 and Ball Software Development System. Activities included: ● Thermal-Vacuum (TVAC) testing on mechanical and electrical components ● Mechanical tolerance and repeatability of hexapod movements ● PCB and board verification and validation ● Optical transmitivity and tolerance measurements via automated stages and interferometers ● Working across other programs as needed to provide specialist support. ### Activation Lead @ Rocket Lab Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | Wallops Island, Virginia, United States Rocket Lab is the world leader in small satellite launch. Every team member is a motivated expert in their field and we were focused on building a flexible, affordable, and reliable launch platform I was focused on building our Rocket Lab's first US launch pad and launching Electron for the first time from US soil. I spent my time working across multiple companies and two countries to coordinate requirements, build schedules & milestones, and follow through on execution of build plans and verification of capability to launch. ### Launch Engineer @ Rocket Lab Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | New Zealand • Ran launch range testing and preparedness campaigns, on site system integration & testing. • Responsible for approval for launch on range • Launch pad operator on five successful launches navigating vehicle, payload & pad anomalies to become best small sat launcher team in the world ### FlightOps Launch Engineer @ Virgin Orbit Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | Long Beach, California, United States Described as the "coolest job in the company" by the company Chief Engineer, I was responsible for preparing for, and flying on, our Boeing 747 "Cosmic Girl" test missions as a part of the small and focused FlightOps team. • Pioneered role as in-flight Launch Engineer for worlds’ only liquid air launch system • Developed requirements for software and hardware features and executed implementation for Launch and Flight Test software and hardware • Prepared plane with successively complex integration and executed groundbreaking missions • Perfect record of safe and successful operations in nine flights ### LaunchOps Engineer @ Virgin Orbit Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | Greater Los Angeles Area • Wrote and deployed launch pad software for mobile launch pad • Coordinated information workflow and requirements from key groups within company • Technical go-to within company driving common software & hardware architectures • Implemented multiple other control and data acquisition projects ### Owner @ Dennis Technical Services Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Houston, Texas, United States • Trusted consultant for individual clients • Developed custom LabVIEW, web & mobile projects • Provided system architecture advice and implementation for automation, medical, and test applications ### Business Development Manager @ Erdos Miller Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Houston I drove business for MicroPulse, a next generation MWD tool. ### Design Engineer @ Erdos Miller Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | Houston • Consultant with a focus on down-hole drilling tools and Automation for the Oil & Gas Industry. • Used National Instruments LabVIEW to deploy Automation, Test & Control applications. ### Staff Real-Time IO R&D Product Support Engineer @ NI (National Instruments) Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 | Austin I Joined National Instruments R&D as a part of the RIO team. I made staff level quickly and focused on the Industrial Communications suite of the RIO platform. I worked for the R&D group focused on Partner and International Business. In addition to coding and technical work, I therefore spent a large amount of time project managing cross-company projects with National Instruments Alliance partners. I worked with other partners from the USA and other countries including Germany, Sweden, China, for concept to completion of R&D products and special customer applications. ### Engineering Leadership Program @ NI (National Instruments) Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 I joined an awesome position out of undergrad as a part of the National Instruments Engineering Leadership Program. The diversity of the program is hard to capture succinctly, but I ended up working with companies, projects, and engineers from every sector of industry. I made it a point join every team allowed to me during ELP and used the time to meet a lot of different companies and gain as much project experience as possible. I had the following types of responsibilities: -Customer education. -Product feedback. -Sales leads -Platform and product recommendations -Critical issue ownership and resolution -proof of concept generation -R&D career projects ## Education ### BS in Engineering, Mechanical Specialty; Dual minors in Physics & Computer Science Colorado School of Mines ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jessedennis --- Source: https://flows.cv/jessedennispe JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/jessedennispe/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-01