The Role
Provides company-wide technical leadership for PCBA manufacturing in spaceflight applications. Develops, qualifies, and optimizes soldering, coating, staking, underfill, inspection, rework, and environmental testing processes. Partners with design engineering on manufacturability, testability, reliability, and DFM/DFA. Troubleshoots production issues, determines root causes, drives corrective actions, owns PCBA specifications, and advances manufacturing technology.
Summary Generated by Built In
As a Principal Manufacturing Engineer (PCBA) at Impulse, you will be the recognized expert on printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) and will provide deep technical expertise on PCBA technology for spaceflight. You will bridge the gap between Design and Manufacturing, ensuring our designs are fully optimized for manufacturability, testability and reliability.
Responsibilities
- Provide technical leadership across the company as the subject matter expert on PCBAs, including manufacturing process, materials, design for manufacturability, environmental testing and qualification, etc.
- Develop, qualify and optimize manufacturing processes for PCBAs, including solder rework, SMT, conformal coating, staking, underfill and inspection
- Develop, characterize, and optimize PCBA assembly processes, including:
- Hand soldering/solder rework, wave soldering, reflow soldering, selective soldering
- Apply an understanding of soldering physics, including:
- Heat transfer and thermal profiles
- Wetting, spreading, surface tension, and intermetallic formation
- Serve as a subject-matter resource for PCBA rework and repair, including:
- Component removal and replacement
- Pad repair
- Solder-joint rework
- Localized thermal processes
- Damage prevention
- Cleaning and inspection
- Rework documentation and acceptance criteria
- Provide technical expertise on environmental testing of PCBAs, including vibration, thermal cycling and thermal vacuum
- Collaborate with design engineers to ensure manufacturability, testability, reliability, drawing review and DFM/DFA of PCBAs
- Serve as technical expert on troubleshooting production issues, identifying root causes, and driving implementation of corrective actions for non-conformances
- Own company specifications on PCBAs
- Stay up-to-date with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in PCBA manufacturing to drive innovation and implementation of lead-edge technology
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelors' degree in Materials Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- 10+ years of demonstrated manufacturing experience with PCBAs, including SMT, conformal coating, staking, underfill
- 10+ years of demonstrated inspection experience with PCBAs, X-ray/CT, flying probe and AOI.
- Deep understanding of materials used in PCBs and PCBA manufacturing
- Strong practical knowledge of hand soldering, wave soldering, reflow, selective soldering, component attachment, and terminal soldering
- Experience with soldering physics, fluxes, solder alloys, surface finishes, thermal profiles, solderability, and common soldering defects
Preferred Skills and Experience
- 15+ years of demonstrated manufacturing and inspection experience related PCBAs,
- M.S. or Ph.D. in Materials Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- Experience with PCB and PCBA manufacturing for space applications.
- In-depth understanding of PCBA functional testing, software testing and environmental testing.
- Experience automated optical inspection (AOI), and X-ray/CT inspection of PCBAs
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 Materials Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
- 10+ years of manufacturing experience with PCBAs, including SMT, conformal coating, staking, and underfill
- 10+ years of PCBA inspection experience, including X-ray/CT, flying probe, and AOI
- Deep understanding of materials used in PCB and PCBA manufacturing
- Practical knowledge of hand, wave, reflow, and selective soldering; component attachment and terminal soldering
- Experience with soldering physics, fluxes, solder alloys, surface finishes, thermal profiles, solderability, and common soldering defects
- 15+ years of PCBA manufacturing and inspection experience
- Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Materials Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
- Experience with PCB and PCBA manufacturing for space applications
- Understanding of PCBA functional testing, software testing, and environmental testing
- Experience with automated optical inspection and X-ray/CT inspection of PCBAs
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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.
