Senior Battery Engineer

Cowboy Space; San Carlos (CA); On-site; USD 167,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays/year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

Daily lunch in the office

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp in San Carlos, CA is seeking a Battery Engineer to own battery system design, development, and qualification for spacecraft energy storage. You will collaborate with power electronics, avionics, thermal, mechanical, and software teams to deliver flight-ready battery hardware for eclipse periods and peak loads.

The role emphasizes hands-on, end-to-end development from concept to flight, with emphasis on safety, reliability, and space-qualified packaging and testing.

Qualifications

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or related discipline
• 3+ years developing battery systems for aerospace, automotive, defense, or other high-reliability applications
• Experience designing battery packs and energy storage systems
• Knowledge of lithium-ion chemistries (NMC/NCA/LFP) and safety considerations
• Experience with Battery Management Systems (BMS) incl. SOC/SOH estimation
• Experience with battery testing, characterization, and validation across temperature and abuse testing
• Familiarity with MATLAB/Simulink, Python, or equivalent tools for battery modeling

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and development of spacecraft batteries from concept through flight
• Design battery packs, modules, and interconnects to meet mission requirements
• Develop BMS including cell balancing, SOC/SOH estimation, fault protection
• Select cell chemistries based on energy/power trade-offs and environment
• Perform sizing, degradation modeling, and DoD management for cycle life
• Develop charging/discharge strategies with power systems team
• Define thermal management requirements and mitigate thermal runaway
• Lead integration, environmental qualification, and acceptance testing
• Investigate performance, reliability, and root-cause failure
• Support manufacturing, supplier selection, and production readiness
• Support spacecraft integration, launch campaigns, and on-orbit monitoring

Skills

Battery design

BMS development

Spacecraft batteries

Thermal management

Testing & qualification

Vibration/TVAC

Hardware debugging

Education

BS/MS/PhD in EE/ME/Materials/Chemical Eng

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

X-ray/CT inspection

Job description

About Cowboy Space Corp

Mission

Cowboy Space Corporation is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. We are tackling one of humanity’s most complex engineering challenges with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Cowboy Space Corporation is transforming how civilization powers, computes and connects - from orbit to Earth.

Background

Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.

Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases.

Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others.

This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.

The Role

We're looking for a Battery Engineer to own the design, development, integration, and qualification of our spacecraft battery systems. You'll be responsible for developing reliable, high-performance energy storage solutions that power the spacecraft through eclipse periods, peak load events, and critical mission operations.

This is a hands-on individual contributor role for an engineer who enjoys taking battery systems from concept through flight. You'll work closely with power electronics, avionics, thermal, mechanical, and software engineers to develop flight-ready battery hardware capable of operating safely and reliably in the harsh environment of space.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and development of spacecraft batteries from concept through flight qualification

• Design battery packs, module architectures, and electrical interconnects (e.g., laser welding, wire bonding, busbar design) to meet mission performance requirements, including series/parallel cell configuration trade-offs

• Develop a battery management system (BMS), including cell balancing (passive and active balancing techniques), state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH) estimation (coulomb counting, OCV-based, and model-based/Kalman filtering approaches), fault detection, and protection strategies (overvoltage, undervoltage, overcurrent, overtemperature, cell imbalance)

• Select battery cell chemistries and components (e.g., NMC, NCA, LFP, or primary Li-CFx for long-duration/low-power missions) based on mission requirements, specific energy/power trade-offs, cycle life, reliability, and environmental constraints

• Perform battery sizing, capacity analysis, degradation modeling (capacity fade, impedance growth), depth-of-discharge (DoD) management for cycle life targets, and lifecycle assessments

• Develop battery charging and discharge strategies in partnership with the spacecraft power systems team, including coordination with solar array power management (MPPT vs. direct energy transfer) and peak-load discharge current limiting

• Define thermal management requirements and collaborate with thermal engineers to ensure safe battery operation, including thermal runaway propagation mitigation (cell-to-cell spacing, thermal barriers, venting design) and cold-survival heater strategy

• Lead battery integration, validation, environmental qualification, and acceptance testing, including vibration/shock (per GEVS/NASA-STD-7001 or ECSS equivalents), thermal vacuum cycling (TVAC), vacuum outgassing (ASTM E595), and abuse testing (overcharge, short circuit, crush, penetration, thermal abuse)

• Investigate battery performance, reliability, and failure modes through analysis and testing, including root-cause failure analysis and corrective action development

• Support manufacturing, supplier selection, DFM/DFT reviews, cell matching/sorting processes, weld quality inspection (including X-ray/CT inspection for internal defects), and production readiness

• Support spacecraft integration, launch campaigns, and on-orbit battery performance monitoring and trending

Basic Qualifications

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline

• 3+ years developing battery systems for aerospace, automotive, defense, or other high-reliability applications

• Experience designing battery packs and energy storage systems, including cell/module/pack architecture and electrical interconnect design

• Knowledge of lithium-ion battery chemistry (NMC, NCA, LFP), degradation mechanisms, and safety considerations

• Experience developing or integrating Battery Management Systems (BMS), including cell balancing, SOC/SOH estimation, and fault protection architectures

• Experience with battery testing, characterization, and validation, including cycle life testing, performance characterization across temperature, and abuse/safety testing

• Familiarity with battery modeling (equivalent circuit models or electrochemical models), lifecycle analysis, and performance prediction

• Strong analytical and hands-on hardware debugging skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing spacecraft or satellite battery systems

• Experience with radiation effects on battery systems and space-qualified components

• Experience with battery thermal modeling and thermal runaway mitigation, including coupled thermal-electrochemical simulation (e.g., COMSOL)

• Knowledge of NASA, ECSS, or aerospace battery qualification and safety standards (e.g., MSFC-STD-3012 lithium-ion battery safety guidelines, AFSPCMAN 91-710 range safety requirements, GEVS/NASA-STD-7001 environmental verification, ECSS-E-ST-20-01)

• Experience supporting vibration, shock, thermal vacuum, and environmental testing campaigns

• Experience with battery safety analysis including FMEA, fault tree analysis (FTA), and hazard assessments, along with familiarity with abuse/safety test standards (UN 38.3, IEC 62133, UL 1642/2054)

• Familiarity with MATLAB/Simulink, Python, or equivalent tools for battery modeling, SOC/SOH algorithm development, and analysis

• Experience with isolated cell monitoring architectures and BMS IC platforms (e.g., isoSPI daisy-chain architectures common in EV/aerospace battery stacks)

• Experience supporting battery hardware from prototype through flight, including launch campaign support and on-orbit anomaly investigation

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $167,000 - $230,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) retirement savings plan

• Paid time off

• 10 paid holidays per calendar year

• Paid parental leave

• Relocation assistance if applicable

• Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

ITAR Requirements

• Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about ITAR here.

Disclaimer

This job description is a summary of the primary duties and responsibilities of the job and position. It is not intended to be a comprehensive or all-inclusive listing of duties and responsibilities. Contents are subject to change at Cowboy Space Corp.’s discretion.

Cowboy Space Corp. is an equal employment opportunity employer. We consider individuals for employment or promotion according to their skills, abilities and experience. Cowboy Space Corp. is committed to complying with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religious creed, age, national origin, ancestry, physical, mental or developmental disability, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and medical conditions relating to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding), veteran status, military status, marital or registered domestic partnership status, medical condition (including cancer or genetic characteristics), genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, as well as any other category protected by federal, state or local laws.