Senior Photovoltaics / Solar Array Engineer - Solar & Deployables
$183,000–$198,000 year
On-siteSan Jose, California, United States
Job Summary
Serve as technical owner for photovoltaic systems, leading solar cell selection, qualification, and array electrical architecture from cell coupon through flight hardware. Build vendor partnerships for procurement and co-development, while defining string sizing, diode strategies, and grounding. Optimize total system efficiency by trading mass, power, and cost, and develop performance predictions to reconcile against test and on-orbit data. Own encapsulation, lamination, and bonding processes, managing environmental test qualification and acceptance data packages. Mentor junior engineers and drive array scaling from prototype to constellation quantities. Work onsite three days a week at our San Jose, CA facility.
Required Qualifications
- 8+ years of experience designing, building, and testing high-reliability hardware, including 5+ years with solar arrays or photovoltaic systems
- Strong understanding of solar cell physics, with hands-on experience across single, double, and triple junction cells
- Hands-on experience with one or more of: space solar cell selection/screening, encapsulation/lamination, or array electrical design
- Working knowledge of array performance prediction (BOL/EOL, radiation and thermal effects) and power budgeting
- Experience with array or coupon qualification, including environmental test (TVAC, vibration, thermal cycling)
- Strong systems-level thinking across electrical, mechanical, thermal, and power domains
- Strong skills with drawings, GD&T, BOMs, and mass/power budgets; proficiency with standard tools (CAD, PLM, test equipment)
- Extensive documentation capabilities: build procedures, test plans, design trades
- Experience working with external vendors for part development and manufacturing
- Excellent communication, presentation, and cross-functional coordination skills
- B.S. or higher in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, or related field
- Due to the hands-on nature of this role, it requires onsite work at our San Jose, CA location three days a week
- applicant must either be (A) a U.S. person, defined as a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, (B) eligible to access the export controlled information without a required export authorization, or (C) eligible and reasonably likely to obtain the required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency
Desired Qualifications
- Flight heritage — solar array hardware you designed that has successfully operated in space
- Direct experience with IMM space solar cells and coverglass selection
- Experience with array electrical modeling and radiation-degradation methods (e.g., EQFLUX / displacement damage dose)
- Experience defining or running in-house panel lamination processes
- Familiarity with grounding, bonding, and ESD/arcing mitigation for high-voltage arrays
- Experience with array substrate/panel mechanical design and integration with deployables
- Software skills in Python, MATLAB, or similar
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