Senior 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. 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 engineers 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 drive the design, manufacturing, testing, and deployment of 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 tackle these challenges with the full resources and support of K2.

Requirements

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

Nice To Haves

Experience with solar array system development for space applications, including requirements definition, design, development testing, manufacturing, and qualification
Background working across multiple solar array architectures with variations in cell, module, and system technologies for high-power, long-life applications
Familiarity 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 radiation environments
Understanding of structural analysis and failure modes for complex mechanical systems in space environments
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

Design and deliver solar array electrical and mechanical subsystems, contributing to system architecture and lifecycle performance margin analysis
Develop and maintain electrical performance degradation models across environment variations including radiation, thermal cycling, and UV exposure
Define and execute assembly-level acceptance and qualification test procedures
Collaborate with avionics, structures/mechanisms, software, and production teams on solar system requirements, integrated qualification/acceptance testing, and on-orbit data review
Support design reviews, own subsystem deliverables, and maintain accurate development schedules out to 9+ months
Drive manufacturing processes for in-house fabrication and assembly, including evaluation of manufacturing equipment, development of work instructions, in-process checkouts, and end-of-line testing
Work with the production team to develop factory layouts and processes that enable high-rate solar array builds