Spacecraft Contamination Control Engineer

Jobtailor; Greenbelt (MD); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking an experienced aerospace contamination engineer to provide subject matter expertise in contamination requirements and controls across the spacecraft lifecycle. You will manage budgets, mitigation strategies, and transport analyses for spacecraft, payloads, and hardware.

Role requires strong collaboration across thermal, fluids, propulsion, materials, and systems engineering teams, with a focus on verification approaches and risk-driven design changes. U.S.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in Engineering or related discipline with 10+ years of relevant experience, or MS with 7+ years.
• Experience determining contamination sensitivities and developing requirements based on instrument or system performance.
• Experience evaluating contamination controls across design, manufacturing, integration, test, and inspection.
• Experience with molecular and particulate contamination, outgassing, transport/deposition, cleanroom practices, vacuum systems.
• Experience with aerospace contamination control for spacecraft, launch systems, or other contamination-sensitive flight hardware.
• U.S. Citizen and able to pass a U.S. Government background investigation.
• Strong cross-disciplinary collaboration and communication.
• Desired: MS/PhD in Engineering or related discipline.
• Desired: NASA contamination standards experience.
• Desired: ASTM E595, E1559, E1216, or E1235 experience.
• Desired: Contamination modeling with MATLAB, Thermal Desktop or similar tools.

Responsibilities

• Provide subject matter expertise in spacecraft contamination requirements and controls throughout the lifecycle.
• Manage contamination sensitivity assessments, budgets, mitigation strategies, and transport analysis.
• Evaluate contamination sensitivities, requirements, controls, budgets, and mitigation strategies for spacecraft and hardware.
• Analyze contamination sources, transport, and deposition and assess impacts.
• Review contamination control plans, analyses, verification approaches, and documentation across all phases.
• Support development and refinement of contamination-related requirements and verification approaches.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary engineering teams to assess risks and drive design changes.
• Provide independent technical assessments and recommendations to leadership.
• Participate in technical reviews with spacecraft developers, test organizations, and partners.

Skills

Contamination Sensitivity

Molecular Contamination

Particulate Contamination

Contamination Control

Technical Communication

NASA Standards

Education

B.S. in Engineering

M.S./Ph.D. preferred

Tools

MATLAB

Thermal Desktop

Contamination Analysis Software

Job description

• Provide subject matter expertise in spacecraft contamination requirements and controls throughout the spacecraft lifecycle
• Manage contamination sensitivity assessments, contamination budgets, mitigation strategies, and molecular and particulate transport analysis
• Evaluate contamination sensitivities, requirements, controls, budgets, and mitigation strategies for spacecraft, payloads, and associated hardware
• Analyze molecular and particulate contamination sources, transport, and deposition and assess potential impacts
• Review contamination control plans, analyses, verification approaches, and technical documentation across design, manufacturing, integration, testing, transportation, and operations
• Support development and refinement of contamination-related requirements and verification approaches
• Evaluate contamination risks associated with materials, hardware processing, cleaning, inspection, storage, transportation, and cleanroom environments
• Participate in qualification, acceptance, and other testing activities and evaluate test results
• Investigate contamination issues and anomalies, perform or support root-cause analysis, and evaluate corrective actions
• Apply flight and test experience, lessons learned, and engineering analysis to assess contamination risks, acceptance criteria, and design or process changes
• Collaborate with thermal, fluids, propulsion, materials, systems engineering, mission design, and other disciplines
• Provide independent technical assessments, identify risks and uncertainties, and develop recommendations for engineering and program leadership
• Participate in technical reviews and engineering activities with spacecraft developers, test organizations, and technical partners
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring in spacecraft contamination control methods, analysis, and practices

Requirements

• B.S. degree in Engineering or related discipline and 10+ years of relevant experience, or M.S. degree and 7+ years of relevant experience
• Experience determining contamination sensitivities and evaluating or developing contamination requirements based on instrument, payload, or system performance characteristics
• Experience evaluating contamination controls across design, manufacturing, integration, test, and inspection activities
• Experience with molecular and particulate contamination, outgassing, transport/deposition, cleanroom practices, materials, vacuum systems, and hardware cleaning and inspection methods
• Experience with aerospace contamination control processes for spacecraft, launch systems, or other contamination-sensitive flight hardware
• Must be a U.S. Citizen and successfully complete a U.S. Government background investigation
• Strong technical communication and collaboration skills across multidisciplinary engineering teams
• Desired: M.S. or Ph.D. in Engineering or related discipline
• Desired: Experience with spacecraft docking contamination control, ISS, or other contamination-sensitive spaceflight systems
• Desired: Experience applying NASA and industry contamination control standards and practices
• Desired: Experience with contamination testing and characterization, including ASTM E595, E1559, E1216, or E1235
• Desired: Experience with contamination modeling and analysis using Thermal Desktop, MATLAB, or specialized contamination analysis software
• Desired: Experience with spacecraft or commercial spaceflight hardware through design, integration, qualification, test, or operations
• Desired: Experience evaluating hardware acceptance criteria, verification evidence, technical risks, and corrective actions
• Effective communication of complex technical concepts across multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders
• Customer-focused and able to support government and agency partners
• Dependable and accountable in regulated and deadline-driven environments
• Productive and results-oriented
• Collaborative team player

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in spacecraft contamination control, including contamination sensitivity assessments, mitigation strategies, and molecular and particulate transport analysis. Proficient in evaluating contamination risks and developing requirements across the spacecraft lifecycle while collaborating with multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Contamination Sensitivity Assessment
• Molecular and Particulate Contamination Analysis
• Contamination Control Processes
• Technical Communication Skills
• Aerospace Contamination Standards

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Contamination Requirements Evaluation
• Contamination Budget Management
• Molecular Transport Analysis
• Particulate Transport Analysis
• Cleanroom Practices
• Hardware Cleaning Methods
• Contamination Testing and Characterization
• Contamination Modeling
• ASTM E595
• Thermal Desktop

Soft Skills

• Collaboration
• Effective Communication
• Dependability
• Customer Focus
• Results Orientation

Industry Keywords

• Spacecraft Contamination Control
• Aerospace Engineering
• NASA Standards
• Contamination-Sensitive Flight Hardware
• Cleanroom Environments

Tools & Technologies

• MATLAB
• Contamination Analysis Software
• Thermal Desktop