Senior Power Electronics Engineer – Solar Array - TeraWave Verified today
About the role
Join Blue Origin's TeraWave Spacecraft Bus team as a Senior Power Electronics Engineer focused on Solar Array Regulation. You will serve as the Responsible Engineer for the Solar Array Regulator (SAR), a flight-critical component in the spacecraft's Electrical Power Subsystem. The SAR governs how solar array power is captured, regulated, and delivered across all illumination conditions in orbit.
This is full product ownership. You will drive the SAR from requirements definition through circuit design, qualification, and production release at constellation scale. TeraWave operates at a production rate of thousands of units, so your design decisions directly impact manufacturing yield, unit cost, test throughput, and schedule. You will balance rigorous space-grade reliability with aggressive cost and manufacturability targets simultaneously.
Responsibilities
- Lead circuit design for the Solar Array Regulator, including S3R, PPT, and MPPT topologies for a high-voltage spacecraft power bus
- Characterize solar array electrical performance across illumination angles, temperature ranges, and eclipse/sun transition scenarios to define design margins and inform control algorithm development
- Define thermal dissipation requirements for shunt elements and collaborate with thermal engineering to validate heat rejection across all operating modes
- Derive and maintain SAR hardware requirements, interface control documents (ICDs), and design specifications in coordination with systems engineering and adjacent subsystems including thermal, structures, harness, avionics, and the solar array supplier
- Participate in FMEA/FMECA activities and drive single-point failure elimination throughout the design
- Optimize the SAR design for high-rate manufacturing, including component commonality, DFM/DFT compliance, and unit cost targets without compromising reliability or performance
- Define and transition Automated Test Equipment (ATE) from development to production, including solar array simulation capability and fault coverage validation
- Develop and execute hardware qualification plans per MIL-STD-1540, SMC-S-016, or equivalent standards, and lead anomaly investigation and resolution
- Serve as the technical authority for the SAR during vehicle integration and flight acceptance test campaigns
- Own and maintain the complete SAR design package within the PLM configuration management system
Minimum qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or closely related field, plus 7 or more years of hands-on electronics hardware development experience
- Demonstrated design experience with solar array regulation topologies, specifically shunt regulation, S3R, MPPT, or PPT, in a spacecraft or high-reliability power system application
- Design experience with high-voltage power electronics above 50V, including bus architecture and protection circuit design
- Hands-on experience leading or substantially contributing to a hardware qualification campaign per MIL-STD-1540, SMC-S-016, ECSS-E-ST-10-03, or directly comparable standard, including test plan development and anomaly resolution
- Experience with radiation-tolerant or radiation-hardened design practices for space environments, including component selection and total ionizing dose (TID) analysis
Preferred qualifications
- Graduate degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field
- 9 or more years of power electronics or power systems development experience for space or other harsh environments
- Experience with solar array simulators and I-V curve characterization equipment for qualification and production acceptance testing
- Experience in high-rate production electronics environments, including DFM/DFT optimization, production test development, and yield improvement
- Familiarity with eclipse/sun transition power management, battery charge regulation, and downstream interactions between the SAR and power management and distribution hardware
- Experience designing and integrating high-dissipation electronics with mechanical structures for thermal management
- Proficiency with Altium Designer or comparable tool for schematic capture and PCB layout
- Proficiency with LTspice or comparable SPICE-based simulation tool for circuit analysis
- Experience with Windchill PLM or equivalent configuration management system
- Experience with EMI/EMC design and compliance per MIL-STD-461 or equivalent
- Background in safety-critical systems development across aerospace, automotive, medical, or defense applications
- Strong written and verbal technical communication skills, with demonstrated ability to author specifications, analysis reports, and test plans independently
Compensation
Base pay range: CO applicants $144,179 to $201,849.90 per year; WA applicants $156,802 to $219,522.45 per year. Other site ranges may differ.
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.
Background check required for all positions.