Mission Assurance Engineer II - Build Reliability Verified today

Varda Space · El Segundo, CA · Production · first seen 2026-09-08

About Varda

Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda's W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, capsules, C-PICA heat shields, and satellite buses. Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, with additional offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

About This Role

The Build Reliability Engineer II partners closely with design and manufacturing teams to right-size processes and controls to enable scaling production of spacecraft hardware. You will ensure production processes yield verified, reliable hardware at rate, and flex to support Quality, Flight Reliability, and Mission Assurance. The ideal candidate is a responsible, collaborative, process-oriented engineer with hands-on hardware design, test, manufacturing, and troubleshooting experience.

Your Responsibilities

Partner with design engineering and manufacturing teams to create test, manufacturability, and inspection plans for all vehicle hardware.
Contain suspect or known non-conforming product, providing guidance to quality inspectors, technicians, shop supervisors, and engineers.
Lead failure investigations in production, test, and operation; identify and mitigate immediate and underlying root causes to reduce risk and improve reliability of designs and processes.
Provide critical peer review of hardware during design reviews and acceptance and qualification test campaigns.
Perform failure modes and effects analyses, build requirements compliance matrix tools, and ensure adequate test coverage, change management, and manufacturability of flight hardware.
Own vehicle-level deliverables for regulatory bodies including requirements compliance, functional or flight hazard analyses, and verification evidence.
Support Mission Assurance's vehicle-level risk management and identification, tracking, and execution of mitigations.

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in aerospace, computer science, electrical, manufacturing, mechanical, or material sciences engineering.
3+ years professional experience in aerospace, design, quality, or related engineering role.
Hands-on hardware test, qualification, troubleshooting, or failure analysis experience.
Commitment to lean quality principles without compromising safety or reliability.
Demonstrated application of process controls in high volume manufacturing, test, and quality environments.
Experience generating, processing, and/or analyzing data for production insight.
Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills, with a drive to innovate and improve reliability in cutting-edge technology.

Preferred Skills and Experience

Full project lifecycle ownership experience (cradle-to-grave).
Proficiency with quality tools such as measurement systems analysis, design of experiments, statistical process control, root cause analysis and corrective action, advanced product quality planning (APQP), metrology, process failure mode and effects analysis (PFMEA), control plans, and various problem-solving approaches.
Hands-on knowledge of CNC machining, additive manufacturing, casting, welding, fastening, or other special manufacturing processes.