Reliability Engineer - Satellite & Payloads - TeraWave
About The Position
At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! Blue Origin is pioneering the future of space-based communications with TeraWave, a revolutionary satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth. This multi-orbit constellation will consist of optically interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO), providing enterprise-grade connectivity for critical operations worldwide. As the TeraWave Reliability Engineer for Satellite and Payloads, you will serve as the hardware reliability technical focal point across spacecraft bus electronics, RF and optical payload hardware, avionics, EPS, propulsion electronics, GNC hardware, thermal-control hardware, structures and mechanisms, harnesses, connectors, and EEE parts. You will translate mission availability and lifetime objectives into actionable hardware reliability requirements, analyses, design decisions, and verification evidence across a high-rate constellation product lifecycle.
Requirements
- B.S. in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, systems engineering, reliability engineering, applied mathematics/statistics, or a related technical field.
- 7+ years of experience in reliability, systems, spacecraft, payload, avionics, or mission-assurance engineering for aerospace or another high-reliability product.
- Hands-on experience with FMEA/FMECA, fault-tree analysis, reliability block diagrams, critical-item management, or quantitative reliability prediction.
- Working knowledge of spacecraft bus and payload hardware such as avionics, EPS, propulsion electronics, GNC sensors and actuators, thermal-control hardware, structures and mechanisms, RF communications, or optical communications.
- Ability to derive clear, verifiable requirements and connect those requirements to analysis, test, inspection, or demonstration evidence.
- Ability to work across hardware design, manufacturing, supplier, test, quality, and operations teams and to present risk to technical and program leadership.
- Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.
Nice To Haves
- M.S. or Ph.D. in a relevant engineering or reliability discipline.
- Experience with large satellite constellations, long-life LEO/MEO missions, fleet availability, or high-rate aerospace production.
- Experience applying NASA-STD-8729.1, MIL-STD-1629A, ECSS dependability practices, or comparable reliability standards.
- Experience with probabilistic methods, Monte Carlo analysis, Bayesian updating, reliability growth, accelerated-life testing, or physics-of-failure methods.
- Familiarity with radiation effects, EEE parts assurance, derating, worst-case circuit analysis, EMI/EMC, harness design, and materials/process controls.
- ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer or equivalent demonstrated expertise.
- Experience with requirements and lifecycle tools such as DOORS/Next Generation requirements systems, Jira, Windchill/PLM, Python, MATLAB, or statistical analysis software.
Responsibilities
- Develop, maintain, and execute the TeraWave hardware reliability and maintainability approach across satellites, spacecraft bus systems, and RF and optical payload hardware, aligned with program mission-success objectives
- Derive and allocate quantitative reliability, availability, and mission-life requirements from system objectives to spacecraft and payload hardware, LRUs, CCAs, EEE parts, mechanisms, harnesses, and critical hardware interfaces.
- Build and maintain reliability block diagrams, functional failure analyses, FMEAs/FMECAs, fault trees, critical-item lists, and single-point-failure assessments for nominal, degraded, contingency, and safe-mode operations.
- Partner with system and hardware subsystem architects to improve design robustness through derating, redundancy, cross-strapping, electrical and mechanical isolation, protective circuitry, design margins, parts selection, and graceful degradation.
- Perform reliability predictions and sensitivity studies using appropriate component, test, supplier, and field/heritage data; clearly state model assumptions, uncertainty, confidence, and limitations.
- Quantify the reliability and availability impact of satellite and payload hardware trades, including, redundancy and sparing, RF and optical terminal architecture, avionics and EPS topology, propulsion capability, sensor and actuator selection, electrical protection, and hardware partitioning.
- Integrate radiation-induced failures, EEE part degradation, thermal and mechanical cycling, optical and RF degradation, mechanism wear, connector and harness failure modes, latent defects, and manufacturing variation into hardware reliability analyses in partnership with Radiation, EEE Parts, M&P, Manufacturing, Quality, and subsystem teams.
- Define hardware reliability demonstration, growth, and verification plans; support qualification, acceptance, highly accelerated, environmental, life, and integrated hardware testing.
- Review requirements, schematics, drawings, interface-control documents, test plans, nonconformances, waivers, and supplier data for hardware reliability impacts.
- Establish reliability metrics and evidence packages for program reviews, architecture closure, PBRs, design reviews, and flight-readiness decisions.
- Communicate technical risk and residual risk in decision-ready terms, balancing mission success, constellation availability, cost, schedule, producibility, and fleet operations.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
- Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
- Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
