Chad Taylor

Chad Taylor is a Principal Flight Termination Systems Engineer at Rocket Lab since December 2023, focusing on the Neutron destruct system for flight safety and spearheading a new program. Previously, Chad spent nearly a decade at SpaceX, starting as a Flight Reliability Engineer, where responsibilities included managing the Risk Management System and coordinating technical risk reduction efforts. Chad advanced through roles such as System Certification Engineer, Flight Safety Engineer II, and Senior Flight Safety Engineer, contributing to hardware development and upgrades for flight safety systems. Chad's early career included roles at PolySat, where Chad was CP10 Mission Manager and GNC Lead, and Flextronics, serving as Precision and Design Engineering Technician. Chad holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace and Astronautical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, with additional education at Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences.