Electrical Test and Development Engineer

Drones have fundamentally changed the nature of conflict and maneuver. The next theater to be changed by drone technology is space. Space Kinetic is a space technology startup company building a completely new architecture for space operations – one that brings the advantages of drone technology to space missions without relying on consumable fuel.  

This is not a role for someone looking for a traditional 40-hour work week. Space Kinetic is building ambitious, first-of-its-kind technology, and that requires urgency, ownership, and a high level of commitment to changing the foundational assumptions for everything we do in space.  

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related engineering discipline. 
• 3+ years of professional electrical engineering experience. 
• Experience testing, debugging, and validating electrical hardware for spacecraft, satellites, aerospace, defense, or other high-reliability applications. 
• Experience working on spacecraft hardware or spacecraft electrical systems. 
• Experience with flight systems, flight electronics, avionics, or other mission-critical electrical hardware. 
• Strong understanding of analog and digital circuit fundamentals. 
• Experience reading and interpreting schematics, PCB layouts, electrical drawings, interface control documents, test procedures, and bills of materials. 
• Hands-on experience troubleshooting electrical hardware using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, power supplies, electronic loads, and other standard lab equipment. 
• Experience developing and executing electrical test procedures for boards, subsystems, or integrated hardware. 
• Basic familiarity with schematic capture and PCB design tools, including Altium Designer. 
• Experience supporting hardware bring-up, debugging, validation, and failure analysis. 
• Ability to work closely with design engineers to identify issues, document findings, and drive problems to closure. 
• Strong engineering fundamentals and ability to make sound technical judgments in hands-on test environments. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience testing or developing electronics for spacecraft, satellites, launch vehicles, missile systems, aircraft, defense systems, or other mission-critical hardware. 
• Experience with flight-qualified or flight-intent hardware development. 
• Experience supporting board-level bring-up for analog, digital, mixed-signal, power electronics, embedded systems, sensor interfaces, or motor control hardware. 
• Experience with communication protocols such as CAN, Ethernet, RS-422, RS-485, SPI, I2C, and UART. 
• Experience developing test fixtures, harnesses, breakout boards, automated test setups, or other lab infrastructure. 
• Experience with wire harness design, fabrication, routing, connector selection, crimping, continuity testing, and integration. 
• Experience with harness documentation, cable drawings, pinouts, interconnect diagrams, and interface control documents. 
• Familiarity with board-level thermal considerations, electronics packaging, heat sinking, thermal interfaces, and thermal testing. 
• Knowledge of EMI/EMC design practices and qualification testing. 
• Experience with environmental testing including vibration, shock, thermal, and vacuum testing. 
• Experience working with PCB fabricators, contract manufacturers, component suppliers, external test labs, or harness fabrication vendors. 
• Familiarity with aerospace standards, high-reliability design practices, and configuration-controlled hardware development. 
• Experience working in fast-paced development environments where hardware is rapidly designed, tested, and iterated. 
• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder).
• Ability to maintain or obtain a Government Security Clearance. 

What You’ll Bring 

• Strong technical judgment and engineering fundamentals. 
• A hands-on approach to electrical testing, debugging, and problem solving. 
• A practical understanding of how electronics behave in real-world test, integration, and operating environments. 
• Ability to work across electrical, mechanical, thermal, software, manufacturing, and systems engineering disciplines. 
• Comfort supporting both detailed board-level testing and broader system-level electrical integration. 
• A willingness to support adjacent hands-on electrical work, including wire harness development, assembly, and integration. 
• Strong documentation habits and the ability to clearly communicate test results, issues, and recommended next steps. 
• Comfort operating in an environment with ambitious schedules, evolving requirements, and challenging technical goals. 
• A desire to help see hardware through the full lifecycle — from development and board bring-up to qualification, integration, and fielded operation. 

*Our vision is unique, and so is the team we’re building. If you’re driven to succeed in this role, even if your background doesn’t fully align with every qualification, we want your application.