Senior Materials Engineer

E-Space•Saratoga, CA

2d•$140,000 - $190,000

About The Position

We are looking for a hands-on Senior Materials Engineer to lead the development, prototyping, and qualification of material solutions for spacecraft components. You will own the material selection, process development, and testing pipeline — from rapid vendor prototyping through environmental qualification — for polymer and flexible component architectures. This is a role for someone who doesn't just understand materials in the abstract but has deep intuition for how material choices and process parameters affect system-level performance in thin constructions — foils, vapor-deposited films, adhesive layers, and flexible laminates.

Requirements

BS/MS in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
5+ years of experience in materials engineering with direct, hands-on work on thin-film deposition and coating processes in a production or pre-production environment.
Understanding of how material properties (dielectric, conductive, mechanical) affect Thermal, RF and optical system performance.
Experience qualifying materials for the space environment, including familiarity with outgassing standards, thermal vacuum testing, and radiation effects on polymers and thin films.
Demonstrated ability to work with external vendors to rapidly develop and iterate on prototype hardware.
Practical understanding of manufacturing scale-up — you've thought carefully about how a process moves from prototyping to continuous, high-volume production.
Comfort working across disciplines — you don't need to be an antenna or RF engineer, but you need to connect material decisions to system performance.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree preferred.
We are redefining how satellites are designed, manufactured and used—so we’re looking for candidates with passion, deep knowledge and direct experience on LEO satellite component development, design and in-orbit activities. If that’s your experience – then we’ll be immediately wow-ed.

Responsibilities

Own material selection and process development for thin-film and flexible spacecraft components, with attention to how material properties influence electromagnetic and optical behavior.
Develop and scale vacuum deposition and coating processes, with a clear understanding of how lab-scale prototyping translates to volume manufacturing — yield, throughput, process control, and cost.
Drive rapid prototyping cycles by working directly with material vendors and contract manufacturers to source, fabricate, and iterate on component prototypes.
Define and execute environmental test campaigns (thermal vacuum, radiation, atomic oxygen, outgassing, UV exposure, thermal cycling) to qualify materials for the space environment.
Collaborate with Thermal, Optical & RF engineers to correlate material and process variations with measured performance, closing the loop between fabrication and function.
Evaluate substrates, conductive films, adhesives, and coatings for combined structural, thermal, and electromagnetic suitability.