Full-Stack Spacecraft Engineer

Springville, Utah

Care Weather mass produces satellites to 10X the global supply of weather data. That data paves the way for superintelligent weather simulations that will give prophetic disaster warnings and prescribe cures to droughts, hurricanes, and torrential rain.

Come make Earth more habitable with us.

Full-stack Spacecraft Engineer

Care Weather is looking for engineers with backgrounds in electronics, embedded software, and mechanical design to join the Veery full-stack satellite engineering team, which owns features across the technology stack from requirements and design to manufacturing and operation on orbit. On the full-stack team, you’ll build production spacecraft and support development and testing of specialty hardware and software subsystems. Come help us design, build, and fly weather satellites that save lives and livelihoods with early and accurate disaster warnings.

As a full-stack spacecraft engineer, you will contribute to design, fabrication, and testing across the Veery system. You will be assigned components of the spacecraft system and be responsible to carry them from concept to flight. You will design and build actual flight hardware and software and test it on orbit.

In addition to supporting overall satellite design, build, and test efforts, you may be assigned to develop general satellite systems, including:

• Deployable solar panels and antennas.
• Solar-battery power systems.
• Satellite structures.
• Flight software.
• Wire harnessing.
• Motherboard/daughterboard design.
• Propulsion systems.
• Radiation hardening.
• Concepts of operation (CONOPS).
• Mission management.

Responsibilities

Depending on assignment, you will:

• Model technical relationships between elements of the spacecraft system ensuring launch requirements are met, ground testing is fast and thorough, and flight operations are successful.
• Support system engineering, integrating analytical component models and simulations of satellite components and cross-satellite operations into a model-based engineering system of the entire satellite and ground systems to meet mission performance targets.
• Vibe code tools, services, and dashboards supporting satellite and ground system design, development, testing, and analysis with appropriate information controls.
• Design and fabricate spacecraft mechanical and electrical components for integrity during launch vibration and reliable, accurate operation within the thermal, radiation, and vacuum conditions of low-Earth orbit.
• Take point with launch providers, coordinating interface controls, safety, and regulatory certifications. Oversee spacecraft compliance by the rest of the spacecraft engineering team.
• Maintain and update standard operating procedures for satellite manufacturing and testing. Develop hardware and software to automate manufacturing and testing with support from dedicated tooling engineers. Maintain version-controlled build and test records.
• Support assembly and testing of satellite subsystems. Lead assembly, characterization, end-to-end testing, and flight qualification of the entire satellite. Coordinate build and test milestone completion supported by a variety contributing specialists.
• Hand-deliver flight-qualified satellites and integrate them into the host rocket.
• Make trade offs based on sensitivity studies and probabilistic fault tree mental models to achieve mission success while avoiding scope creep and over-engineering.
• Collaborate closely with specialist engineers (RF/microwave, thermal, GNC) to delivery reliable, high-performance satellites.
• Plan and conduct end-to-end tests of integrated satellite hardware and software on your own satellite flight spare. Develop and test like you fly, programming the flight spare over the air across a 20 km range radio link in the line of sight from your desk.
• Support long-duration, test-like-you-fly functional qualification of the entire satellite in a variety of flight-like environments, including thermal cycling, high-altitude flight testing, and a flight dynamics testbed.
• Participate in reviews of the test plan and test results prior to satellite delivery for launch.
• Oversee and participate in on-call satellite operation shifts as necessary to accelerate satellite commissioning and operations on orbit. Command satellite operations and analyze telemetry to evaluate in-space performance.
• Write high-quality technical documentation of designs and contributor guidelines. Write minimal procedures for largely automated build and test operations. Provide rules for agents supporting flight operations. Write well-reasoned test reports.
• Update and maintain satellite software and simulation configurations for a series of new and legacy satellites with evolving performance targets.
• Support other development as needed.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline, computer science, aerospace, or physics.
• Hands-on experience with electronics development and testing.
• Software development experience in either Rust, C, C++, or Python.

Preferred Skills and Experience

The ideal candidate has some of the following skills and experience:

• Cradle-to-grave development of autonomous systems such as robots, drones, cars, spacecraft, ships,or factories. Hands-on experience with remote troubleshooting.
• A portfolio of self-conceived, self-driven personal projects with software, electronic, and/or mechanical components.
• Familiarity with electro-mechanical failure modes and the thermal, vacuum, and radiation characteristics of the orbital environment.
• Refined taste for great design. Built software, electronics, and/or mechanical systems that other people have used.
• Parametric 3D modeling, GD&T, sheet metal design, 3D printing, and CAM/CNC machining.
• PCB design and layout using KiCAD or other tool. Soldering and PCB testing. Familiarity with electronic test equipment including oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.
• Master’s degree or PhD in robotics, aerospace engineering, computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or physics.
• Experience, coursework, and passion projects in meteorology, Earth science, planetary science, astrobiology, or astronomy.
• Experience validating simulations and tests of complex physical systems, including many uncertain factors that are difficult to account for.
• Experience developing other spacecraft-relevant systems: solar-battery power, thermal management, structures, high-voltage plasma physics, RF/microwave, compute, avionics, GNC, integration, and space mission operations.
• Experience with system engineering and fault tree analysis.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, autonomously driven, and demanding start-up atmosphere.
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal.
• Passion for community service, humanitarian work, and the outdoors.

Additional Requirements

• Able to work extended hours and Saturdays when needed to support critical path development and/or critical on-orbit operations.

Compensation and Benefits

Pay Range:
Level I: $79,000-92,000
Level II: $91,000-106,000
Level III: $110,000-130,000

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

You may also be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of company stock options and potential discretionary bonuses. You will receive access to medical coverage, access to a 401(k)-retirement plan, and various other discounts and perks. You will also be eligible for six weeks of paid time off per year, including sick leave, vacation, and holidays, with an additional four weeks of paid parental leave plus an additional six weeks of paid recovery leave for birth mothers.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Equal Opportunity

Care Weather considers qualified applicants without regard to any status protected by law and is an equal opportunity employer of protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Applicants needing a reasonable accommodation may contact careers@careweather.com.