Senior R&D Engineer, Space PV Prototyping & Design

Tandem PV, Inc.; Iowa (LA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Tandem PV, Inc. in the United States is seeking a Senior R&D Engineer, Space PV Product Design & Prototyping to turn our perovskite cell tech into prototype space power products: lightweight, flexible photovoltaic modules and test articles for spacecraft, where watts per kilogram matter more than watts per square meter.

You will own the design from module layout and electrical architecture through laminate stack, interconnects, mounting and terminations, and you will build, test and iterate

Qualifications

• Hands-on hardware or product design experience, including building prototypes.
• Degree in mechanical, electrical, aerospace or materials engineering, applied physics, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Demonstrated design ownership from concept through prototype build and test.
• Proficiency with 3D CAD and engineering drawing practice, including tolerancing for thin parts.
• PV electrical design fundamentals and current-voltage characterization.
• Thermomechanical judgement for dissimilar-material joints and thin laminates.
• Structured test planning and data analysis with clear decisions from small sample sets.
• Comfort working hands-on in a small team with shifting priorities.

Responsibilities

• Define prototype requirements (power, voltage, area, mass, environment) and translate into design specs and verification plans.
• Design module and coupon layouts, interconnects, terminations and bypass protections.
• Design the mechanical stack-up, edge seals, mounting, and harnessing for carriers and flexible blankets.
• Create and maintain CAD models, drawings, BOMs and performance metrics (W/kg, areal-mass).
• Build prototypes with technicians and design fixtures, jigs and tooling for ultrathin parts.
• Plan and run design verification and prepare pre-test baselines for environmental campaigns; analyze failures and iterate designs.
• Work with process engineers to set design rules and tolerances for deposition and laser patterning processes.
• Own design documentation, train technicians, write build travelers and support government reviews.

Skills

Hardware design

Prototype testing

3D CAD

PV design fundamentals

Thermomechanics

Test planning

Technical writing

Education

Mechanical or aerospace engineering degree

Tools

SolidWorks

Creo

Fusion 360

Job description

Tandem PV, Inc. in the United States is seeking a Senior R&D Engineer, Space PV Product Design & Prototyping to turn our perovskite cell tech into prototype space power products: lightweight, flexible photovoltaic modules and test articles for spacecraft, where watts per kilogram matter more than watts per square meter.

You will own the design from module layout and electrical architecture through laminate stack, interconnects, mounting and terminations, and you will build, test and iterate