Senior Solar Array Engineer — Spacecraft Power Lead (San Jose)

ArcTern Ventures; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 183,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision insurance

401k retirement plan

Paid vacation

Paid holidays

Unlimited sick time

Parental leave

Equity compensation

Job summary

Muon Space is seeking a Senior Photovoltaics/Solar Array Engineer to own the design, qualification, and sustainment of spacecraft photovoltaic systems. You will lead cell selection, encapsulation, and array architecture, partnering with vendors to optimize mass, power, and cost while ensuring reliability.

This role is onsite in San Jose, with a hands-on, cross-functional remit. You will mentor junior engineers, manage environmental tests, and drive design reviews across the program life cycle,

Qualifications

• 8+ years designing, building, and testing high-reliability hardware, including 5+ years with solar arrays or photovoltaic systems.
• Hands-on experience with solar cell selection, encapsulation/lamination, or array electrical design.
• Experience with array performance prediction and power budgeting.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Own photovoltaic systems design, encapsulation, and array electrical architecture for assigned missions.
• Lead solar cell selection and qualification, including procurement specifications and performance characterization.
• Build partnerships with solar cell vendors and manufacturers for co-development of arrays.
• Define array electrical architecture: string sizing, diode strategy, grounding/bonding, layout.
• Optimize total system efficiency by balancing mass, power, and cost at the array and spacecraft level.
• Develop and maintain array performance predictions (BOL/EOL, radiation/thermal effects) and reconcile with test/on-orbit data.
• Own encapsulation, lamination, bonding processes; partner with manufacturing on instructions, tooling, and yield improvements.
• Own array and coupon qualification, including environmental tests and data packages.
• Collaborate with mechanical, structural, and thermal engineers to iterate designs for performance and manufacturability; support make vs. buy decisions.
• Document photovoltaics best practices; contribute to design reviews (PDR, CDR, MRR).
• Mentor junior engineers and technicians, driving scale from prototype to constellation quantities.

Skills

Photovoltaics

Space hardware

Systems thinking

Python

MATLAB

Vendor collaboration

Education

Electrical Engineering

Tools

CAD

PLM

Test Equipment

Job description

Muon Space is seeking a Senior Photovoltaics/Solar Array Engineer to own the design, qualification, and sustainment of spacecraft photovoltaic systems. You will lead cell selection, encapsulation, and array architecture, partnering with vendors to optimize mass, power, and cost while ensuring reliability.

This role is onsite in San Jose, with a hands-on, cross-functional remit. You will mentor junior engineers, manage environmental tests, and drive design reviews across the program life cycle,