Reliability Engineer - Satellite & Payloads - TeraWave

Blue Origin; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Bonus up to 15%

Job summary

Blue Origin, a leader in space exploration, seeks a TeraWave Reliability Engineer for Satellite and Payloads to serve as the hardware reliability focal point across spacecraft bus electronics, RF/optical payload hardware, avionics, and related subsystems.

You will translate mission objectives into actionable hardware reliability requirements, perform FMEAs, reliability predictions, and risk assessments, and collaborate to enhance design robustness, margin, and redundancy throughout the product

Qualifications

• BS in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, systems engineering, reliability engineering, or applied mathematics/statistics.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and execute the hardware reliability and maintainability approach across satellites, spacecraft bus systems, RF/optical payload hardware, and related components.
• Derive and allocate reliability, availability, and mission-life requirements from system objectives to hardware and interfaces.
• Build and maintain reliability analyses (FMEA/FMECAs, fault trees, LRUs, single-point-failure assessments) for various operations.
• Collaborate with architects to improve design robustness through redundancy, margins, and protective circuitry.
• Perform reliability predictions and sensitivity studies using data from components, tests, suppliers, and field/heritage.
• Quantify impact of trades on reliability and availability, including architecture, redundancy, and topology decisions.

Education

B.S. in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, systems engineering, reliability engineering, applied mathematics/statistics

Job description

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

Blue Origin is pioneering the future of space-based communications with TeraWave, a revolutionary satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth. This multi-orbit constellation will consist of optically interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO), providing enterprise-grade connectivity for critical operations worldwide.

As the TeraWave Reliability Engineer for Satellite and Payloads, you will serve as the hardware reliability technical focal point across spacecraft bus electronics, RF and optical payload hardware, avionics, EPS, propulsion electronics, GNC hardware, thermal-control hardware, structures and mechanisms, harnesses, connectors, and EEE parts. You will translate mission availability and lifetime objectives into actionable hardware reliability requirements, analyses, design decisions, and verification evidence across a high-rate constellation product lifecycle.

Special Mentions

• Relocation provided
• Up to 15% as program needs require

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Develop, maintain, and execute the TeraWave hardware reliability and maintainability approach across satellites, spacecraft bus systems, and RF and optical payload hardware, aligned with program mission-success objectives
• Derive and allocate quantitative reliability, availability, and mission-life requirements from system objectives to spacecraft and payload hardware, LRUs, CCAs, EEE parts, mechanisms, harnesses, and critical hardware interfaces.
• Build and maintain reliability block diagrams, functional failure analyses, FMEAs/FMECAs, fault trees, critical-item lists, and single-point-failure assessments for nominal, degraded, contingency, and safe-mode operations.
• Partner with system and hardware subsystem architects to improve design robustness through derating, redundancy, cross-strapping, electrical and mechanical isolation, protective circuitry, design margins, parts selection, and graceful degradation.
• Perform reliability predictions and sensitivity studies using appropriate component, test, supplier, and field/heritage data; clearly state model assumptions, uncertainty, confidence, and limitations.
• Quantify the reliability and availability impact of satellite and payload hardware trades, including, redundancy and sparing, RF and optical terminal architecture, avionics and EPS topology, propulsion capability, sensor and actuator selection, electrical protection, and hardware partitioning.
• Integrate radiation-induced failures, EEE part degradation, thermal and mechanical cycling, optical and RF degradation, mechanism wear, connector and harness failure modes, latent defects, and manufacturing variation into hardware reliability analyses in partnership with Radiation, EEE Parts, M&P, Manufacturing, Quality, and subsystem teams.
• Define hardware reliability demonstration, growth, and verification plans; support qualification, acceptance, highly accelerated, environmental, life, and integrated hardware testing.
• Review requirements, schematics, drawings, interface-control documents, test plans, nonconformances, waivers, and supplier data for hardware reliability impacts.
• Establish reliability metrics and evidence packages for program reviews, architecture closure, PBRs, design reviews, and flight-readiness decisions.
• Communicate technical risk and residual risk in decision-ready terms, balancing mission success, constellation availability, cost, schedule, producibility, and fleet operations.

Minimum Qualifications

• B.S. in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, systems engineering, reliability engineering, applied mathematics/statistics