Staff Reliability Engineer

Hubble Network•Seattle, WA

18h•$128,000 - $224,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Hubble Network was founded with the intention of delivering on the promise of what Internet-of-Things (IoT) was supposed to be. We're building a global Bluetooth® network dedicated to machine-to-machine connectivity. We differentiate ourselves as the first modem-less and gateway-less, direct-to-satellite network from off-the-shelf Bluetooth® Low Energy chips. Hubble is ideal for applications in logistics, AgTech, and maritime where economies of scale for volume consumer and enterprise asset tracking is a priority. Our goal is to be the first billion-endpoint-connected network in the world. Hubble is an early-stage, venture-backed startup supported by some of the best investors in the world. In their previous lives, the founding team has been successful in raising $100s of millions in venture funding, developing the Amazon Sidewalk network, launching billions of dollars of space assets, and leading their teams to successful exits, both through acquisition and IPO. We are now looking to bring on talented team members who are the best at what they do to help us make Hubble a reality for the world. We are seeking a Staff Reliability Engineer to establish Hubble's component reliability function. Our payloads are built using commercial off-the-shelf components, and they must survive a multi-year LEO mission across a constellation rather than a handful of vehicles. In this role you will determine which components are acceptable for flight, define the evidence required to support that determination, and establish our approach when such evidence does not exist. That assessment spans the full set of stresses a satellite encounters, including total ionizing dose, single-event upset rate, operating temperature, thermal cycling, mechanical vibration, and cumulative time on orbit. You will define and execute the qualification program supporting those determinations, including test strategy for total ionizing dose and single-event effects, test vehicle design, coordination with proton and heavy-ion facilities, accelerated life testing, thermal and mechanical stress qualification, and the safe operating area and derating policy applied to each part. You will also establish the failure feedback loops connecting manufacturing, test, and design, and set priorities across this work as the program scales from individual vehicles to production rate. The role is cross-functional by design. You will work closely with hardware design engineering on component selection, derating, and design review; with the test and validation team on qualification test design and execution; with embedded engineering on fault detection, mitigation, and recovery in firmware; with supply chain on sourcing, lot control, and obsolescence management; and with satellite operations on telemetry review and anomaly investigation. Your conclusions are expected to apply across every board in the payload rather than to any single subsystem.

Requirements

BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Nuclear Engineering, or a related technical field
8+ years of engineering experience, with significant depth in component reliability for spaceflight or other high-reliability electronics
Demonstrated hands-on ownership in at least one of the following areas, with working knowledge of the other: Radiation effects (designing test vehicles, coordinating beam time, executing total ionizing dose and single-event campaigns, and reducing data, including destructive mechanisms like single-event latch-up and single-event burnout) OR Physics-of-failure component reliability (designing and executing accelerated life, thermal cycling, or environmental stress testing, and deriving usable life or derating conclusions from results)
Working knowledge of reliability analysis methods, including FMEA or FMECA, derating analysis, worst-case circuit analysis, and life estimation from accelerated test data using established acceleration models
Experience developing qualification and acceptance test plans against recognized standards such as JEDEC JESD22 and JESD47, MIL-STD-883, ECSS-Q-ST-60, or NASA EEE-INST-002
A physics-of-failure approach to reliability, including the ability to identify the mechanism underlying a failure rather than only its statistical characterization, and an understanding of the conditions under which standard acceleration models cease to be valid
Experience qualifying commercial, industrial, or automotive-grade components for space or other harsh environments, including the development of defensible criteria in the absence of vendor data or upscreening budget
Experience with failure analysis and root-cause investigation on flight or flight-representative hardware, including the sequencing of destructive analysis when only a single failed unit is available
Proficiency in Python for test automation, data reduction, and analysis
U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (“green card holder”)

Nice To Haves

Heavy-ion qualification of a complete spacecraft and working knowledge of LEO radiation environment models, including dose-depth and shielding analysis
Authorship of a company radiation qualification standard or equivalent internal specification and established working relationships with proton and heavy-ion test facilities
Single-event upset mitigation for commercial FPGAs and SoCs, including memory scrubbing, triple modular redundancy, and software-level handling
Highly accelerated life and stress screening (HALT and HASS), including test-to-failure characterization and derivation of production screening limits
Lot acceptance testing, burn-in, and destructive physical analysis of commercial components, including construction analysis and die-level inspection
Derating policy development and verification, and the translation of qualification results into design guidance the engineering team can apply directly
Definition of health, diagnostic, and housekeeping telemetry sufficient to observe component degradation in flight
Fleet-level trending and statistical analysis of on-orbit performance, including detection of parametric drift, infant mortality, and wearout onset
On-orbit anomaly categorization and root-cause investigation, including correlation of failures to environmental conditions and operating history
Correlation of observed on-orbit failure rates against ground qualification predictions, and revision of qualification criteria based on that comparison
Experience at constellation scale, where preventing the propagation of a design defect across large production volumes takes precedence over the qualification of any single build

Responsibilities

Establish Hubble's component reliability function.
Determine which components are acceptable for flight.
Define the evidence required to support component determination.
Establish the approach when component evidence does not exist.
Assess components against stresses including total ionizing dose, single-event upset rate, operating temperature, thermal cycling, mechanical vibration, and cumulative time on orbit.
Define and execute the qualification program supporting component determinations.
Develop test strategy for total ionizing dose and single-event effects.
Design test vehicles.
Coordinate with proton and heavy-ion facilities.
Perform accelerated life testing.
Conduct thermal and mechanical stress qualification.
Define and apply safe operating area and derating policy for each part.
Establish failure feedback loops connecting manufacturing, test, and design.
Set priorities for reliability work as the program scales.
Work closely with hardware design engineering on component selection, derating, and design review.
Collaborate with the test and validation team on qualification test design and execution.
Partner with embedded engineering on fault detection, mitigation, and recovery in firmware.
Engage with supply chain on sourcing, lot control, and obsolescence management.
Liaise with satellite operations on telemetry review and anomaly investigation.
Ensure conclusions apply across every board in the payload.
Mentor engineers or lead a small technical team.