Senior Spacecraft Build Reliability Engineer

Varda Space Industries; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 179,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Long-term cash awards

Job summary

Varda Space Industries seeks a Senior Space Build Reliability Engineer to collaborate with design and manufacturing teams to scale spacecraft production. The role ensures reliable hardware, supporting quality, flight reliability, and mission assurance with hands-on hardware experience.

The ideal candidate will be process-oriented, collaborative, and capable of leading root-cause investigations while maintaining safety and reliability in a fast-paced, in-space infrastructure environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, computer science, electrical, manufacturing, mechanical, or materials sciences engineering.
• 5+ years of professional experience in aerospace, design, quality, or related engineering role.
• Hands-on hardware test, qualification, troubleshooting, or failure analysis experience.
• Commitment to lean quality principles without compromising safety or reliability.
• Demonstrated application of process controls in high volume manufacturing, test, and quality environments.
• Experience generating, processing, and/or analyzing data for production insight.
• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills, with a drive to innovate and improve reliability in cutting-edge technology.

Responsibilities

• Partner with design engineering and manufacturing teams to create test, manufacturability, and inspection plans for all vehicle hardware.
• Contain suspect or known non-conforming product, providing guidance to quality inspectors, technicians, shop supervisors, and engineers.
• Lead failure investigations in production, test, and operation; identifying and mitigating immediate and underlying root causes to reduce risk and improve the reliability of designs and processes.
• Provide critical peer review of hardware during design reviews and acceptance and qualification test campaigns.
• Perform failure modes and effects analyses, build requirements compliance matrix tools, and ensure adequate test coverage, change management, and manufacturability of flight hardware.
• Own vehicle level deliverables for regulatory bodies including requirements compliance, functional or flight hazard analyses, and verification evidence.
• Support Mission Assurance's vehicle level risk management and identification/tracking/execution of mitigations.

Skills

Hardware testing

Troubleshooting

Failure analysis

Quality systems

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree (aerospace / CS / EE / manufacturing / mechanical / materials)

Tools

CNC machining

Additive manufacturing

Casting

Welding

Metrology

Process control tools

Job description

Varda Space Industries seeks a Senior Space Build Reliability Engineer to collaborate with design and manufacturing teams to scale spacecraft production. The role ensures reliable hardware, supporting quality, flight reliability, and mission assurance with hands-on hardware experience.

The ideal candidate will be process-oriented, collaborative, and capable of leading root-cause investigations while maintaining safety and reliability in a fast-paced, in-space infrastructure environment.