Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today, Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers across the globe— large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military. With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion of commercial contracts.
Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization. Astranis has raised over $750 million from some of the world’s best investors, from Andreessen Horowitz to Blackrock and Fidelity, and employs a team of 450 engineers and entrepreneurs. Astranis designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.
As a Senior Reliability Test Engineer you work at the intersection of every engineering discipline to ensure our hardware meets the highest bar for quality and reliability. You own reliability for complex electromechanical and electronic hardware from concept through high-rate production and on-orbit operations. You set the targets, build the analyses and test frameworks that prove them, own the labs and tooling that generate the evidence, and lead the investigations when hardware fails. The ideal candidate is self-driven and has designed reliability test campaigns from the ground up.
- Develop and execute qualification and validation test plans: environmental, accelerated life, shock, vibration, thermal cycling, HALT, and HASS.
- Design, build, and automate test equipment, fixturing, and instrumentation end to end in Python, maximizing throughput against rapid design cycles.
- Establish reliability targets across PCBAs, power electronics, avionics, actuators, batteries, high-speed digital and RF systems, and develop the unit-level mission profiles that every prediction and test profile derives from.
- Review block diagrams, interface control documents, and schematics and guide teams on design for reliability before designs lock.
- Lead DFMEA and Fault Tree Analysis with cross-functional teams, and convert the output into design verification plans and implemented design changes.
- Build and maintain reliability models as living artifacts. Create physics-of-failure predictions, mission risk quantification, and Weibull analysis on qualification, production, and field data.
- Serve as the escalation point for reliability risks: triage severity, then lead containment and root-cause investigation of high-impact failures from validation, production, and on-orbit anomalies.
- Coordinate failure analysis and destructive physics analysis using: electrical characterization, microscopy, thermal imaging, X-ray, CT, cross-sectioning, and SEM-EDS.
- Perform analyses on field telemetry, identify performance and degradation trends, update mission profiles, and influence upstream teams to prioritize work that prevents reliability failures.
- Define entry and exit criteria for program gates and mentor engineers to raise reliability capability across the company.
- B.S. in Mechanical, Electrical, Physics, Materials Science, or an equivalent technical discipline.
- 5+ years in reliability, test, or design engineering on high-reliability hardware or 3+ years with an M.S.
- Hands-on testing experience with mechanical, electrical, and electromechanical systems, and with a wide range of sensors, actuators, instrumentation, and DAQ devices.
- Experience standing up reliability engineering frameworks for a product or program, covering detailed reliability analysis, development testing, production testing, and field data analysis,
- Experience generating qualification test requirements and executing tests that proactively characterize product behavior and iteratively improve designs and reliability estimates.
- Domain depth in one or more of: EEE piece parts, avionics, PCBA reliability, battery systems, EV powertrain or HV devices, thermal systems, actuators, or solar cells.
- Experience owning reliability infrastructure: test labs and chambers, failure analysis equipment, metrology and instrumentation, automatic testing equipment and fixtures.
- Proven track record of driving systemic improvements and shaping engineering strategy.
- Expertise in reliability analysis: FMEA/FMECA, FTA, predictive modeling, and Weibull analysis.
- Failure investigation experience with a proven record of solving problems and preventing recurrence.
- Design review experience (PDR, CDR, MRR) and confidence presenting to every level of leadership.
- Strong technical writing: test plans, reports, requirements, standards, and specifications.
- Working proficiency in Python, C++, or your coding language of choice.
- M.S. in an engineering discipline, or a degree specifically in Reliability Engineering.
- Familiarity with ASTM, JEDEC, IEEE, ISO, and MIL test standards.
- Weibull++, ReliaSoft, or equivalent
- HV testing experience
- JMP, Python, or R for data analysis
- Familiarity with Linux, shell scripting, software/firmware HITL/SITL, and Python/SQL for data analysis.
Base pay is just one component of Astranis’s total rewards package. Your compensation also includes a significant equity package via incentive stock options, high-quality company-subsidized healthcare, disability and life insurance, 401(k) retirement planning, flexible PTO, and free on-site catered meals.
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Skills Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or an equivalent technical discipline
- 5+ years of experience in reliability, test, or design engineering on high-reliability hardware, or 3+ years with a master’s degree
- Hands-on testing experience with mechanical, electrical, and electromechanical systems
- Experience with sensors, actuators, instrumentation, and data acquisition devices
- Experience establishing reliability engineering frameworks covering reliability analysis, development testing, production testing, and field data analysis
- Experience generating qualification test requirements and executing tests to characterize product behavior and improve designs and reliability estimates
- Expertise in one or more areas including EEE piece parts, avionics, PCBA reliability, battery systems, EV powertrain or high-voltage devices, thermal systems, actuators, or solar cells
- Experience owning reliability infrastructure, including test labs, chambers, failure analysis equipment, metrology, instrumentation, automated testing equipment, and fixtures
- Proven track record of driving systemic improvements and shaping engineering strategy
- Expertise in FMEA or FMECA, fault-tree analysis, predictive modeling, and Weibull analysis
- Failure investigation experience with a record of solving problems and preventing recurrence
- Design review experience with PDR, CDR, or MRR
- Strong technical writing skills for test plans, reports, requirements, standards, and specifications
- Working proficiency in Python, C++, or another programming language
- Master’s degree in engineering or a degree specifically in Reliability Engineering
- Familiarity with ASTM, JEDEC, IEEE, ISO, and MIL test standards
- Experience with Weibull++, ReliaSoft, or equivalent software
- High-voltage testing experience
- Experience using JMP, Python, or R for data analysis
- Familiarity with Linux, shell scripting, software or firmware HITL/SITL, and Python or SQL for data analysis
What We Do
Astranis is building small, low-cost telecommunications satellites. Our mission is to help get online the 4 billion people who are without internet access.
