Radiation Effects Engineer - Sr. Principal Verified today
Role Overview
This role is part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE), supporting Blue Origin's mission of millions of people living and working in space. As a Sr. Principal Radiation Effects Engineer, you will actively engage program leadership and engineers to drive company direction, part selection, analysis standards, and subcontract decisions. From mission inception to operation, you will ensure success of Blue Origin's systems and lead process improvements across the entire radiation effects workflow.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as Subject Matter Expert on electronics part performance and space radiation environments; mentor engineers and guide multidisciplinary teams on analysis outcomes, requirement interpretation, and risk mitigation
- Drive automation and tooling initiatives, develop roadmaps for radiation testing and analysis, and champion continuous improvement in engineering practices and data governance
- Architect systems and processes including the Radiation Test Database that make test data usable and traceable across the organization; set technical standards for component and assembly qualification against radiation criteria
- Maintain cutting-edge expertise through engagement with industry experts, customers, and technical publications on emerging technologies and radiation concerns
- Translate mission parameters into radiation environment definitions and effects requirements; quantify mission risk via upset-rate modeling and failure analysis
- Model and validate performance of digital, analog, and mixed-signal circuits under radiation exposure; identify and verify hardening techniques in partnership with design and manufacturing teams
- Guide decisions on part selection, sourcing, and qualification status across the component lifecycle, coordinating with reliability and sourcing functions
- Author control plans, requirements documents, technical memos, and comprehensive part-, circuit-, and system-level analyses that inform company decisions
- Operate in accordance with organizational and regulatory radiation safety standards
Minimum Qualifications
- Graduate degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, Nuclear Science, or related field with 15+ years of direct experience designing, analyzing, and/or testing radiation effects on electronics and materials, including work on avionics hardware for space environments
- Expert-level understanding of radiation effects on electronics and materials, spanning commercial and rad-hardened component technologies, semiconductor devices (transistors, memories, logic, microcontrollers, FPGAs), and ability to interpret engineering design documentation to assess radiation susceptibility
- Expert-level experience with circuit analysis, mitigation implementation, statistical methods, and quantitative risk assessment for transient radiation phenomena
- Expert-level experience with standard radiation environment and transport modeling tools: IRENE, OMERE, SPENVIS, OLTARIS, CREME96, MCNP, FASTRAD, GEANT4
- Strong familiarity with radiation test laboratory equipment (power supplies, DAQ systems, electronic loads, SMUs, etc.) and general electronics lab skills (soldering, harnessing, oscilloscopes, multimeters, logic analyzers)
- Extensive experience developing software solutions that support engineering workflows, from hardware test automation to data management applications; proficiency in Python, C, SQL, common web technologies, version control, I2C, SPI
- Proven ability to lead technical projects independently from inception to completion, with sound judgment across all aspects of radiation effects on electronics
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; extensive experience producing program deliverables and presenting radiation requirements and results at design reviews
- Ability to build trust, maintain positive cross-team relationships, and contribute to an inclusive culture
- Completion of radiation safety coursework and adherence to dose exposure protocols
- U.S. citizen, U.S. national, current Green Card holder, or individual lawfully admitted as a refugee or granted asylum
- Domestic travel required; occasional international travel possible
Preferred Qualifications
- Background in the component engineering discipline, with experience influencing part reliability and availability decisions in coordination with sourcing organizations
- Familiarity with radiation assessments and mitigation strategies for human space crews and radiation effects on spacecraft materials
Compensation
Base Pay Range: CO applicants $190,458.00 - $266,641.20; WA applicants $194,121.00 - $271,768.35. Other site ranges may differ.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, vision insurance
- Basic and supplemental life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- Short and long-term disability
- 401(k) with company match up to 5%
- Education Support Program
- Stock options for all regular employees (20+ hours/week)
- Up to four weeks paid time off per year; up to 14 company-paid holidays
- Performance-based bonuses (not guaranteed)
Additional Requirements
Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. Standard background check required for all positions. DBIDS background check required if role requires access to military installations.