Radiation Effects Test Engineer

RADIATION EFFECTS TEST ENGINEER

As a part our continuous effort to vertically integrate and scale safe and rapid access to space as well as improve the baseline reliability of our multiple on-orbit mega-constellations, SpaceX has acquired a 230 MeV cyclotron to bring radiation single event effects testing in house. This proton particle accelerator will be used to screen and characterize electronics across all of our vehicles and platforms, unlocking unprecedented agility for chip and PCBA level performance characterization that will be critical as we build and scale our AI constellations and deep space exploration vehicles. We are currently looking for elite electronics test engineers to support us as we bring this unprecedented capability online and expedite the expansion of consciousness to the stars.

As a member of our fast-paced Radiation Effects team, you will be responsible for ensuring avionics hardware performance across our fleet of vehicles (Dragon, Falcon, Starship, Lunar Human Landing System, etc.) and satellites (Starlink, Starshield) through some of the harshest and varied radiation environments imaginable. To ensure maximum reliability in an ionizing radiation environment, the Radiation team at SpaceX performs exhaustive analysis, design, and test at the component, board, unit, and subsystem levels with extensive opportunity to interact with a vast array of rocket and spacecraft hardware and electronics. You will have the unique opportunity to design and develop test systems that will validate the performance of these components in a cross-disciplinary environment. You will be expected to create new test systems and infrastructure from the ground up including hardware, software, and test sequences to exercise all possible failure modes.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design, develop, and maintain custom test solutions for flight hardware consisting of in-house developed electronics, optics, RF antennas and modulators, and electro-mechanical hardware


• Select commercial-off-the-shelf hardware and/or design custom PCBAs to measure signals, apply flight-like loads, and power units under test


• Write automation software in Python to interact with units under test, test equipment, instrumentation, and production documentation systems


• Work closely with and consistently provide feedback to responsible design engineers, manufacturing engineers, and test lab teams to drive innovation in design and infrastructure to increase product reliability and yield


• Root-cause test anomalies and failures during various states of testing and development to ensure they are understood and implement mitigations

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, or an engineering discipline with an emphasis in electrical engineering and electronics


• 1+ years of experience with electronic hardware development or software development (academic projects, internships, and traditional professional experience all qualify)


• 1+ years of programming experience using Python, MATLAB, or Embedded C/C++

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Experience analyzing circuits and developing functional test plans


• Experience designing and troubleshooting PCBAs


• Experience with test equipment such as oscilloscopes, DMMs, DAQs and measurement techniques to verify and validate product electronic requirements


• Experience developing object-oriented software


• Experience with RF test equipment including spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, and signal generators


• Understanding of electrical schematics and electronics manufacturing to analyze and improve test coverage


• Understanding of metrology, sources of measurement error, and uncertainty analysis


• Understanding and experience in environmental testing such as HALT, HASS, vibration, shock, thermal, TVAC, and EMI/EMC

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be able to lift up to 25 lbs. unassisted


• Travel may be required to support off site radiation testing


• This role will be based onsite in Winter Garden (Greater Orlando, FL)