Senior Test Engineer - Space Solar

Starpath Robotics•Hawthorne, CA

1d•$145,000 - $180,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Starlight team is focused on dramatically improving space solar power to support Starpath's core mission and the greater space economy. Starlight manufactures the lowest cost and highest performance space solar ever, which will power the majority of new satellites built on Earth and all of Starpath's equipment on the Moon and Mars. As a Senior Test Engineer on the Starlight team, you will own the test programs that prove our solar hardware is ready for flight. From electrical characterization of individual cells through full-array environmental qualification, you'll define how we test, what we test against, and how we know we're done. You'll set the technical direction for test, mentor a growing test team, and partner with design and manufacturing to make our hardware better with every campaign.

Requirements

Bachelor's or advanced degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, materials, physics, or a related engineering or science discipline
6+ years of test engineering experience on hardware, with demonstrated ownership of test programs from planning through execution and reporting
Track record of running qualification or acceptance test campaigns on production or flight hardware
Experience leading technical work across cross-functional teams (design, manufacturing, quality)

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in an engineering or science discipline
Direct experience testing photovoltaic hardware — solar cells, strings, panels, or arrays — ideally multi-junction (III-V) cells for space or other high-reliability applications
Hands-on experience operating and maintaining solar simulators (e.g., Spectrolab, AAA-class) and interpreting LIV/flash test data
Proficiency with electroluminescence imaging, dark IV analysis, and other diagnostic techniques for solar hardware
Experience leading environmental qualification campaigns — TVAC, thermal cycling, vibration, shock — and correlating results to analysis
Familiarity with aerospace test standards (e.g., GEVS, MIL-STD-1540, AIAA S-111, AIAA S-112 for solar cells, NASA TVAC and dynamics standards)
Strong data acquisition and analysis skills — LabVIEW, Python, MATLAB, or equivalent — including building custom DAQ for non-standard test setups
Experience designing precision test fixtures and stands, including thermal and electrical interfaces to hardware under test
Background in statistical analysis of test data, Weibull / life modeling, or accelerated life testing
Prior experience mentoring or leading test engineers and technicians
Exposure to aerospace, space, or other high-reliability hardware environments

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end test programs for space solar hardware — from cell-level electrical characterization through panel and array environmental qualification
Define test strategy, requirements, and acceptance criteria for development, qualification, and acceptance testing
Design and stand up test stands, fixtures, and data acquisition systems for electrical, thermal, mechanical, and environmental testing
Lead environmental qualification campaigns — thermal vacuum (TVAC), thermal cycling, vibration, shock, and humidity — including test readiness reviews and post-test data review
Execute electrical characterization of solar hardware — LIV/flash testing, electroluminescence imaging, dark IV, and degradation analysis
Drive root-cause investigations on test failures and anomalies; partner with design engineering to close issues and improve hardware
Write and review test procedures, test plans, and qualification reports to a standard that holds up under customer and regulatory review
Influence hardware design from a testability perspective — push for instrumentation access, alignment features, and design choices that make hardware easier to qualify
Mentor test engineers and technicians, set technical bar, and grow the team's capability as the program scales
Push back on unnecessary complexity — simplify test setups, eliminate redundant verification, and cut overhead wherever it doesn't add value