Senior R&D Engineer, Space PV Product Design & Prototyping

The role

You will turn perovskite cell technology into prototype space power products like lightweight, flexible photovoltaic modules. You will own product design from module layout to electrical architecture and build, test, and iterate prototypes hands-on.

What you will do

• Define prototype requirements and translate them into design specifications and verification plans.
• Design module and coupon layouts including cell sizing, interconnect architecture, and terminations.
• Design the mechanical build including laminate stack-up, edge seals, mounting, and harnessing.
• Create and maintain CAD models, drawings, bills of materials, and mass and thickness budgets.
• Build prototypes hands-on with technicians and design necessary fixtures, jigs, masks, and tooling.
• Plan and run design verification and prepare pre-test baselines for external campaigns.
• Analyze failures and feed findings into the next design iteration.
• Work with process engineers to set design rules and tolerances.
• Own design documentation including requirements, drawings, DFMEA, build travelers, and test reports.
• Write build instructions, train technicians, and support government program reviews and reporting.

Required qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on hardware or product design experience, including building and testing prototypes.
• Degree in mechanical, electrical, aerospace or materials engineering, applied physics, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Demonstrated design ownership of electromechanical or photovoltaic hardware from concept through prototype build and test.
• Proficiency with 3D CAD (e.g., SolidWorks, Creo or Fusion) and engineering drawing practice.
• PV electrical design fundamentals: series and parallel architecture, mismatch and shading losses, reverse bias and bypass protection, and current-voltage characterization.
• Thermomechanical judgement regarding thermal expansion mismatch, stress and warp in thin laminates.
• Structured test planning and data analysis.
• Comfort working hands-on in a small team.
• Clear technical writing and meticulous records.

Nice to have

• Space solar array, flexible PV or spacecraft hardware design, including qualification practice (e.g., AIAA S-111/S-112 or ECSS-E-ST-20-08), AM0 measurement, ASTM E595 outgassing, thermal cycling and l
• Perovskite, thin-film or tandem PV device and module experience, including laser-scribed monolithic interconnection.
• Aerospace or government R&D program experience, such as design reviews, DFMEA, configuration control and federal proposals.
• Flexible circuits, interconnect welding or soldering, or hermetic and thin-film encapsulation.

About the company

Tandem PV is pioneering the next generation of solar technology through high-efficiency, mechanically stacked perovskite-silicon tandem panels. Headquartered in Fremont, California, the company is scaling metal-halide perovskite solar technology to bring cost effective solar panels to market.