Solar Equipment Engineer

K2 Space•Los Angeles, CA

8d•$110,000 - $160,000

About The Position

K2 is building high-power satellite platforms for missions from low Earth orbit to deep space and is scaling production toward 100 satellites per year. Solar arrays are critical to its plans to deploy across MEO, GEO, cis-lunar, and deep-space orbits. The Solar Equipment Engineer will own automated equipment used to manufacture and test large solar arrays at production rate. Working closely with process, manufacturing, and facilities engineers, this role coordinates and executes the installation, qualification, and sustaining of the mechanical and electrical systems of solar manufacturing equipment. The engineer is responsible for consistent equipment performance, reliability, and uptime, and supports factory health reporting to process engineers and company leadership. The role requires a relevant technical bachelor’s degree, an internship in a related technical area, and hands-on hardware experience. K2 offers a base salary of $110,000–$160,000 plus company equity and a comprehensive benefits package. The role involves access to export-controlled information and items, so the hire must be a U.S. person as defined by ITAR or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in physics, materials science, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, or a related technical field.
An internship in at least one of the following areas: photovoltaics, power systems, semiconductor equipment, or automation.
Hands-on hardware experience through internships, research, design competitions, or extracurricular projects.
Must be a U.S. person as defined by ITAR or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Nice To Haves

Internship or research experience with solar arrays or power systems for space applications.
Exposure to solar cell or module characterization techniques, such as IV curves, electroluminescence, or flash testing.
Experience with automated equipment or subsystems such as robotics, motion control, vision systems, conveyors, or pneumatics.
Familiarity with PLCs, sensors, or instrumentation, or experience troubleshooting electromechanical systems.
Exposure to manufacturing processes such as soldering, bonding, layup, or electromechanical assembly.
Coursework or project experience in reliability engineering, failure analysis, or root cause methods such as 5 Whys, fishbone, or 8D.
Familiarity with statistical analysis or SPC using Python, MATLAB, JMP, or Minitab.
Experience in cleanroom or controlled manufacturing environments, or safely handling adhesives, solvents, or other hazardous materials.
Familiarity with space environment effects on materials, including radiation, thermal cycling, and atomic oxygen.
Experience with CAD software such as NX, CATIA, or SolidWorks, and practical GD&T application.
Independent and self-motivated mindset with strong organizational, written, and oral communication skills.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with facilities and process engineers to install, qualify, maintain, and continually improve solar array manufacturing equipment.
Own equipment reliability and uptime; design, execute, and analyze experiments to improve within-tool process variance, tool-to-tool performance variance, and defect performance.
Develop and execute preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, spare parts programs, and tool matching protocols.
Lead root cause investigations and corrective actions for assigned equipment.
Work with vendors and the internal automation team on equipment design improvements, upgrades, and custom solutions.
Establish equipment performance metrics, including OEE, MTBF, and MTTR, and implement statistical process control for hardware stability.
Document equipment performance and its impact on downstream processes, and report factory health to process engineers and company leadership.