Senior Build Reliability Engineer

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by $450M from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alpine Space Ventures, and others – with an additional $500M in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers – we’re mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space. 

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today’s and tomorrow’s massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits. 

With multiple launches planned through 2026 and 2027, we're Building Bigger to develop the solar system and become a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a groundbreaking Series C space startup, we’d love for you to apply. 

The Role 

As a Senior Build Reliability Engineer, you’ll be the person who ensures that every satellite we ship is built to fly. You will own quality and reliability from the moment raw materials hit our dock to the moment a finished vehicle leaves for the launch site. You’ll dig into failures, find the root cause, and make sure it never happens again. You’ll write the quality plans and build the processes that let us scale from building a few spacecraft to building many, without compromising the reliability that missions demand.  
 
Being hands-on will be part of your routine as you’ll work alongside engineers and technicians, shaping how hardware gets built. You’ll influence design decisions with data from the production floor. You’ll help establish the manufacturing practices that will underpin Commercial, National Security, and Science missions spanning LEO, MEO, GEO, Cislunar, and Deep Space. 
 
If you want to build the quality culture in a fast paced environment and enable high-rate satellite manufacturing at scale, this is the role. 

Responsibilities 

• Own and execute quality plans across assigned build programs, from receiving inspection through integration, test, and vehicle handoff at the launch site 

• Lead failure investigations, root cause analyses, and corrective action efforts; drive containment activities that reduce risk and improve reliability across production 

• Feed lessons learned from build non-conformances and test failures back into the design cycle, influencing future component iterations towards simpler, more robust, and more repeatable flight unit builds 

• Develop and continuously improve quality processes including non-conformance workflows, process controls, and PFMEAs for complex manufacturing and integration operations 

• Collaborate with manufacturing and design engineering teams to embed quality into the product lifecycle, ensuring quality plans support lean manufacturing and rapid production without sacrificing reliability 

• Support change control implementation by working with engineering teams to evaluate the quality and reliability impact of design and process changes 

• Define, track, and report key quality metrics and production reliability trends; build dashboards that provide leadership visibility into build health 

• Serve as the Build Reliability representative during design reviews, readiness reviews, and production milestone gates 

Qualifications  

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, mathematics, or other relevant engineering discipline 

• 6+ years of experience in a high volume, rapid production environment in a manufacturing, integration, quality and/or design engineering role 

• Strong production and hardware manufacturing experience, including manufacturing of a combination of machined parts, mechanisms, electrical assemblies, Printed Circuit Board Assemblies (PCBAs), and harnessing 

• Experience developing and executing quality plans across the full build lifecycle 

• Ability to work hands-on in a production environment alongside technicians and manufacturing engineers 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present quality data and risk assessments to engineering leadership 

Nice to Have 

• Experience developing PFMEAs for complex processes and leveraging them for continuous improvement initiatives 

• Experience with quality inspection techniques such as NDE/NDT methods and associated equipment 

• Familiarity with AS9100D requirements, including supporting audits and maintaining compliance within a production organization 

• Experience with high-volume manufacturing of complex assemblies, including solar module lines, battery manufacturing lines, and cleanroom production environments 

• Experience generating and evaluating key quality metrics across all stages of manufacturing 

• Excellent conflict resolution and negotiation skills 

• Active Top Secret Clearance or an active DoD Secret clearance with SAP clearance eligibility 

Compensation and Benefits: 

• Base salary range for this role is $140,000 - $175,000 + equity in the company 

• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level 

• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks 

If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, “U.S. Persons” include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.”

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Equal Opportunity

K2 Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with K2 Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.