Principal Solar Design Engineer

K2 Space•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by $450M from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alpine Space Ventures, and others – with an additional $500M in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers – we’re mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space. The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today’s and tomorrow’s massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits. With multiple launches planned through 2026 and 2027, we're Building Bigger to develop the solar system and become a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a groundbreaking Series C space startup, we’d love for you to apply. The Role Critical to achieving K2's vision of deploying at scale across MEO, GEO, cis-lunar, and deep space are the solar arrays. Scaling to constellations requires someone who can span technical domains from module technology and electrical power system interactions to soft goods, deployment mechanisms, structures, integration, and high-rate production. You will define how K2 develops, designs, manufactures, tests, and deploys high-power solar arrays at production scale. The development timelines, operating environments, mission lifetimes, and cost targets we are pursuing demand meaningful innovation. You will have the resources and full support of K2 to make this possible and help raise the bar for the next generation of space technology companies.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in physics, materials science, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, or a related technical field
8+ years of experience in the design, manufacture, and test of solar arrays for space applications

Nice To Haves

Experience architecting solar array systems for space applications; including initial requirement definition, development testing, design, manufacturing, qualification, and analysis of flight data.
Background working on multiple solar array systems with variations in cell, module, and system architecture technologies for high-power long-life space applications.
Experience with AIAA S111/S112, SMC-S-016, NASA-STD-5017, and NASA-STD-4005 for the design and qualification of solar modules, moving mechanism assemblies, and spacecraft charging effects.
Experience designing solar arrays for resilience to exposure to radiation environments.
Demonstrated understanding of structural analysis and failure modes of complex mechanical systems in space environments and operations
Demonstrated understanding of high voltage solar array degradation analysis and failure modes.
Independent and self-motivated mindset, with strong organizational, written, and oral communication skills across disciplines

Responsibilities

Delivery of the solar array electrical and mechanical architecture, system design, and lifecycle performance margins.
Development of the electrical system performance degradation characterization and modelling across environment variations
Definition and execution of assembly level acceptance and qualification testing.
Collaborate with avionics, structures/mechanisms, software, and production teams to define solar system requirements, integrated system qualification/acceptance testing, and on-orbit operations/data review
Lead design reviews, continually own system deliverables, and drive development schedules with accurate projections looking 12+ months ahead in development timeline
Collaborate with leadership on staffing plans, role definitions, and recruiting efforts to ensure the solar array team is appropriately staffed to meet system deliverables
Responsible for the evaluation and selection of manufacturing equipment for specialty processes
Partner with production to develop work instructions, in-process checkouts, and end-of-line tests that ensure successful builds