Senior Test Engineer - Space

The role

You will develop and execute tests to demonstrate the performance and reliability of avionics, electrical subsystems, and thermal hardware for space nuclear power systems. You will own the testing process from requirements and setup design through execution, data analysis, and reporting.

What you will do

• Develop verification plans for avionics, power electronics, sensors, and control systems.
• Design and execute avionics bench and integrated system tests.
• Build automated test equipment and hardware-in-the-loop setups.
• Plan and execute environmental test campaigns including TVAC, vibration, shock, and EMI/EMC.
• Verify electrical and functional performance before, during, and after environmental exposure.
• Develop thermal performance and thermal balance tests for avionics and thermal hardware.
• Design and commission test setups including instrumentation, harnesses, and fixtures.
• Analyze electrical and thermal data and document findings.
• Lead test readiness reviews and maintain test schedules.
• Lead root cause investigations and corrective action verification.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical, aerospace, mechanical, or another engineering discipline, or physics.
• 5+ years of hands-on test engineering experience, including testing avionics, embedded electronics, or electrical subsystems.
• Experience developing test procedures, building instrumented test setups, executing tests, and analyzing results.
• Experience executing environmental or thermal tests, such as TVAC, thermal cycling, vibration, shock, or EMI/EMC.
• Experience using electrical test equipment such as oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, programmable power supplies, and electronic loads.
• Experience using Python, LabVIEW, MATLAB, or similar tools for test automation or data analysis.
• Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestones.
• Ability to lift 50 lbs unassisted.
• Standing, climbing, bending, grasping, sitting, pulling, pushing, stooping, stretching, and carrying may be required.

Nice to have

• Experience qualifying spaceflight avionics or electrical hardware across multiple environmental test disciplines.
• Experience testing power management and distribution systems, motor drives, inverters, or integrated power conversion equipment.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing, fault injection, and debugging interactions between electronics, firmware, and system controls.
• Experience with command and telemetry interfaces such as CAN, Ethernet, SPI, I2C, or RS-422.
• Experience operating TVAC chambers and conducting thermal balance tests.
• Experience performing EMI/EMC tests and troubleshooting grounding, bonding, shielding, conducted noise, or radiated emissions.
• Experience testing heat pipes, heat exchangers, pumped fluid loops, radiators, or other thermal management hardware.
• Experience translating customer and program environmental requirements into qualification and acceptance test campaigns.
• Experience designing test harnesses, electrical schematics, and supporting fixtures, and coordinating test campaigns with outside facilities.

Before you apply

• Applicant must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, Refugee, or Asylee, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

About the company

Antares is building mass-producible, inherently safe, deployable microreactors for terrestrial, underwater, and space use. The team hails from SpaceX, the White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, MIT, and other organizations.