The Role
Lead and mentor RF manufacturing engineers while owning RF manufacturing across spacecraft products. Develop manufacturing work instructions, acceptance testing, inspection, and environmental qualification processes for RF circuit boards and passives. Improve production rate, yield, quality, reliability, and cost; support automated test systems; troubleshoot hardware and test failures; and collaborate with design engineering on manufacturability and design reviews. Ensure timely delivery of RF hardware and drive root-cause resolution in a high-reliability space manufacturing environment.
Summary Generated by Built In
As a Lead RF Manufacturing Engineer at Impulse Space, you will provide leadership and mentorship to a team of RF manufacturing engineers. You will own RF manufacturing across the company for all our products. Your leadership will directly impact the performance and reliability of all vehicles we send into orbit.
Responsibilities
- Recruit and lead a team of RF manufacturing engineers, including providing mentorship and developing the team
- Provide guidance to a team of manufacturing engineers on writing work instructions for RF circuit boards, antennas, filters, inspection and acceptance testing
- Implement processes to streamline the manufacturing process while improving rate, quality and reliability
- Build up acceptance testing (ATP) capability of RF circuit boards and passives, including functional, performance, acceptance, and environmental testing
- Support existing automated test systems by reviewing test logs and results, troubleshooting failures, and making small software or configuration changes as needed
- Lead the effort in collaborating with design engineers to ensure manufacturability and provide input in PDR and CDR reviews
- Lead the effort to optimize production rate, yield and cost of RF hardware production
- Ensure timely delivery of RF hardware to Integration
- Stay up-to-date with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in RF manufacturing to drive innovation
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelors' degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or related field
- 6+ years of demonstrated RF manufacturing experience (or related field), preferably in a high-reliability environment
- 3+ years of experience in a people management role
- Strong track record of and commitment to developing and mentoring people
- Deep understanding of manufacturing processes and materials used in RF manufacturing
- Experience with testing RF PCBAs, antennas, filters and other passives
Preferred Skills and Experience
- MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or related field
- Experience with RF manufacturing for space applications
- Experience with RF PCBA inspection techniques, such as X-ray/CT, AOI, flying probe, etc
- Experience with RF PCBA functional testing (software and firmware) and environmental testing for space applications (thermal cycling, vibration, thermal vacuum)
- Experience with automated test environments using Python or similar tools, including ability to understand existing test automation, troubleshoot failures, and make targeted changes is strongly desired
- Experience reviewing automated test logs, measurement data, and software output to identify whether failures originate in the test system or the hardware under test
- Experience with PCB/PCBA manufacturing, soldering processes, connectors, conformal coating, mechanical integration, or electromechanical assemblies
- Experience with environmental qualification and acceptance testing for spaceflight electronics
- Experience working closely with technicians in a fast-paced production environment and independently driving hardware and test issues to root cause
Additional Information:
Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
Impulse Space’s spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder), an individual granted asylum in the U.S., or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
About
Impulse Space, the in-space transportation company founded by Tom Mueller, is opening access beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its fleet of in-space transportation vehicles. The high-energy Helios vehicle unlocks orbits beyond LEO with its powerful Deneb engine, dropping off payloads in MEO, GEO, heliocentric, lunar, and other planetary orbits. The flight-proven Mira vehicle uses a nontoxic, high-impulse chemical propulsion system to offer orbital transport, constellation deployment, and precision reentry services to customers throughout LEO. Led by a team that delivered the most reliable rockets in history, Impulse provides economical and efficient in-space transportation by reliably and rapidly getting customers where they want to go.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
- 6+ years of demonstrated RF manufacturing experience or related experience, preferably in a high-reliability environment
- 3+ years of experience in a people management role
- Strong track record of and commitment to developing and mentoring people
- Deep understanding of manufacturing processes and materials used in RF manufacturing
- Experience testing RF PCBAs, antennas, filters, and other passives
- Master's or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
- Experience with RF manufacturing for space applications
- Experience with RF PCBA inspection techniques, including X-ray/CT, AOI, or flying probe
- Experience with RF PCBA functional and environmental testing for space applications
- Experience with automated test environments using Python or similar tools
- Experience reviewing automated test logs and measurement data to identify test-system or hardware failures
- Experience with PCB/PCBA manufacturing, soldering, connectors, conformal coating, mechanical integration, or electromechanical assemblies
- Experience with environmental qualification and acceptance testing for spaceflight electronics
- Experience working closely with technicians in a fast-paced production environment and independently driving hardware and test issues to root cause
- Must be a U.S. Person or eligible to obtain an applicable U.S. export license
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The Company
What We Do
Impulse enables low-cost and nimble last-mile space payload delivery - access any orbit, reach other worlds.
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