Solar Development Engineer for LEO Satellite Hardware

Amazon Inc.; Redmond; On-site; AUD 137,000 - 228,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon Leo is seeking a Solar Development Engineer to design, build, and test next-generation solar array hardware for LEO spacecraft. You will work across the full hardware lifecycle, from CAD modeling in NX to environmental testing and manufacturing collaboration.

The role combines hands-on lab work with analysis, trade studies, and documentation, requiring strong fundamentals and rapid learning in a fast-paced aerospace environment.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of hardware design and validation of components, subsystems and systems experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, material science, physics or equivalent.
• Experience with first-principles mechanical analysis (hand calculations, FEA, or thermal analysis) to evaluate hardware designs.
• Hands-on experience building, assembling, or testing mechanical hardware (prototypes, test articles, or production hardware).

Responsibilities

• Mechanical Design: Design sub-components and components for solar array hardware including solar power modules, wing structures, frames, brackets, and mechanical interfaces.
• Prototyping and Build: Support prototype fabrication, assembly, and hardware builds. Work with manufacturing and suppliers to translate designs into physical hardware, incorporating DFM and DFA principles.
• Testing: Support environmental and mechanical testing of array hardware including vibration, thermal cycling, deployment, and functional tests. Develop test procedures, fixtures, and documentation.
• Materials and Processes: Support materials selection, adhesive bonding processes, composite layup, and thin-film material characterization for array structures.
• Documentation: Produce quality engineering artifacts including design specifications, trade studies, test reports, assembly procedures, and design review packages.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with design engineers, scientists, manufacturing, test, and quality teams to support hardware delivery. Participate in design reviews and team planning discussions.

Skills

Hardware design

First-principles analysis

Hands-on hardware testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, material science, physics or equivalent

Tools

Ansys

NASTRAN

MATLAB

Python

Job description

Amazon Leo is seeking a Solar Development Engineer to design, build, and test next-generation solar array hardware for LEO spacecraft. You will work across the full hardware lifecycle, from CAD modeling in NX to environmental testing and manufacturing collaboration.

The role combines hands-on lab work with analysis, trade studies, and documentation, requiring strong fundamentals and rapid learning in a fast-paced aerospace environment.