Spacecraft Electrical Engineer - Radiation Effects

Firefly Aerospace; Cedar Park (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace is seeking a Spacecraft Radiation Engineer to characterize and simulate the radiation environment for missions. You will be involved in multiple phases of spacecraft and hardware development and run multidisciplinary test campaigns to qualify parts for spaceflight.

The role requires direct experience with radiation effects on electronics, statistical methods, and circuit knowledge. Collaboration with hardware teams and risk management are key components of the job.

Qualifications

• BS degree in STEM; in lieu of a degree, 4 additional years of experience are acceptable.
• Minimum 3 years of experience with design, analysis, or testing of radiation effects on electronics and materials.
• Knowledge of statistical methods and probability calculations.
• Familiarity with discrete and integrated circuits (transistors, logic, memory, microcontrollers, FPGAs, etc.).
• Experience with industry-standard radiation analyses and testing (SEECA, TID, DDD, etc.).
• Ability to read electrical schematics and design basic PCBs for testing.

Responsibilities

• Define radiation environment for missions.
• Collaborate with hardware design on parts selection and derating.
• Organize and run test campaigns for Proton, Heavy Ion, and TID.
• Calculate mission probability of success from test results.
• Work with stakeholders to manage programmatic risk.

Skills

Radiation effects analysis

Statistics & probability

Electronics test experience

Schematic reading

PCB design basics

Radiation test campaigns

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Tools

Altium Designer

Job description

Spacecraft Electrical Engineer - Radiation Support

ABOUT FIREFLY

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the first commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the first company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

A Firefly Radiation Engineer is responsible for characterizing, simulating, and mitigating the radiation environmental effects observed by our spacecraft. This person will be involved in all phases of spacecraft and hardware development. A qualified candidate will be capable of both defining the environment as well as running multi-disciplinary test campaigns to qualify COTS parts for spaceflight.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define radiation environment for missions
• Work alongside the hardware design team in parts selection/derating
• Organize and run test campaigns for Proton, Heavy Ion, and TID
• Calculate mission probability of success based on test results
• Work with stakeholders to manage programmatic risk

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• BS degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), in lieu of a degree an additional 4 years of direct experience can be considered.
• 3 yrs minimum experience with design, analysis, and/or testing of radiation effects on electronics and materials
• Knowledge of fundamental statistical methods and probability calculations
• Familiarity with discrete and integrated circuits (transistors, logic, memory, microcontrollers, FPGAs, etc.)
• Experience with industry-standard radiation effects analyses and testing (environment definition, SEECA, TID, DDD, etc.)
• Ability to read electrical schematics and design basic PCBs for testing purposes

Desired

• Experience with Altium Designer
• Experience with Atlassian tools such as Jira/Confluence and Agile methodology
• Experience with radiation simulation tools such as FASTRAD, SPENVIS, etc.