Senior Radiation Effects & Resilience Engineer

Cowboy Space Corporation; San Carlos (CA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement savings plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

Daily lunch in the office

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corporation in San Carlos, CA is seeking a senior engineer to lead radiation effects analysis for orbital compute systems. You will address SEU, TID, and related radiation phenomena across GPUs, CPUs, FPGAs, and power electronics.

This role is onsite in San Carlos, CA or Kent, WA with significant cross-discipline collaboration. Located onsite, you will plan and execute radiation test campaigns, coordinate with external labs, and help define hardware architectures for a space-based

Qualifications

• 5+ years hands-on experience in radiation effects analysis, radiation testing, or space systems reliability engineering.
• Deep understanding of radiation interactions with semiconductor devices and electronic systems.
• Knowledge of Total Ionizing Dose (TID), Single Event Effects (SEE), and Displacement Damage (DDD).
• Experience planning and executing radiation characterization campaigns with external test facilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead radiation effects analysis and resilience strategy for orbital compute systems.
• Analyze radiation effects on GPUs, CPUs, FPGAs, networking ASICs, memory subsystems, and power electronics.
• Define architectural resilience strategies including ECC, redundancy, fault detection and recovery, and software-defined fault tolerance mechanisms.
• Plan and execute radiation test campaigns.
• Coordinate with external laboratories and test facilities to define test conditions, sample preparation, biasing configurations, and data collection methodologies.
• Analyze radiation test results and derive reliability metrics including cross-section analysis, FIT estimation, and mission reliability projections.
• Develop radiation hardness assurance (RHA) methodologies for compute platforms and high-density PCB systems.

Skills

Radiation effects analysis

Space systems reliability

High-performance compute hardware

Job description

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.

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

This role is ideal for engineers who combine deep physics and radiation expertise with strong systems intuition and an interest in building large-scale compute infrastructure beyond Earth. This role is located onsite in San Carlos, CA or Kent, WA.

Responsibilities

• Lead radiation effects analysis and resilience strategy for orbital compute systems.
• Analyze radiation effects on advanced semiconductor devices including GPUs, CPUs, FPGAs, networking ASICs, memory subsystems, and power electronics.
• Evaluate and develop mitigation techniques for SEU, SET, SEL, TID, and displacement damage.
• Define architectural resilience strategies including ECC, redundancy, fault detection and recovery, and software-defined fault tolerance mechanisms.
• Plan and execute radiation test campaigns.
• Coordinate with external laboratories and test facilities to define test conditions, sample preparation, biasing configurations, and data collection methodologies.
• Analyze radiation test results and derive reliability metrics including cross-section analysis, FIT estimation, and mission reliability projections.
• Develop radiation hardness assurance (RHA) methodologies for compute platforms and high-density PCB systems.
• Collaborate with mechanical and packaging teams on shielding and structural mitigation strategies.
• Investigate radiation-induced anomalies and drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Contribute to component selection, platform architecture, and deployment readiness reviews.

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years hands-on experience in radiation effects analysis, radiation testing, or space systems reliability engineering.
• Deep understanding of radiation interactions with semiconductor devices and electronic systems.
• Strong knowledge of Total Ionizing Dose (TID), Single Event Effects (SEE), and Displacement Damage (DDD).
• Experience planning and executing radiation characterization campaigns with external test facilities.
• Experience working with high-performance compute hardware, semiconductor devices, or spaceborne electronics.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with architectural fault tolerance and resilient distributed systems.
• Knowledge of NASA, ESA, ECSS, or MIL-STD radiation qualification standards.
• Experience with shielding optimization and materials
• Experience running radiation simulations and material characterization

Why This Role Is Different

• Own critical hardware systems, not just a small component
• Fast iteration cycles with direct path from design to hardware testing
• Work closely across disciplines in a tightly integrated team
• High autonomy and ownership with real impact on the spacecraft
• Opportunity to help define hardware systems for a new class of space infrastructure

Compensation And Benefits

The salary range for this position is $185,000 - $200,000 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.