SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Salary: USD 150,000 - 200,000 / annual
Cowboy Space Corp. is building orbital infrastructure to power and connect the space economy. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood co-founder) and backed by leading investors, the company operates Low Earth Orbit satellites that collect sunlight and enable on-orbit compute, space-to-earth/space-to-space energy transmission via infrared lasers, and secure high-bandwidth optical data delivery.
As Senior Compute Validation Engineer, you will own the validation strategy for advanced edge compute platforms destined for space deployment. This is a highly hands-on role requiring deep collaboration across electrical, firmware, thermal, mechanical, and system software teams to uncover and resolve failure modes during launch and orbital operation.
Key responsibilities include: leading board bring-up and system validation for flight-ready compute hardware; developing comprehensive validation methodologies covering signal integrity, power integrity, power sequencing, thermal behavior, and system reliability; debugging complex hardware-firmware interactions across high-speed interconnects (PCIe, Nvidia NVLink, AMD XGMI), memory subsystems, and management architectures; performing detailed board analysis using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and power instrumentation; driving root-cause analysis for system failures discovered during validation and environmental testing; designing and validating interfaces using I2C, SPI, and UART protocols; partnering with mechanical, thermal, firmware, and software teams to ensure robust system integration; and helping define engineering standards and validation processes for flight-ready compute hardware.
Required qualifications: 5+ years designing and building compute hardware systems; experience in board design review, system validation, or compute hardware engineering; strong background in server, accelerated compute, or embedded compute platforms; deep understanding of motherboard architecture, high-speed signaling, power delivery systems, and system management infrastructure; extensive hands-on debugging experience at board and system level; proficiency with lab equipment including oscilloscopes and protocol analyzers; experience with scripting/automation in Python, C/C++, or similar languages; strong ownership mentality and ability to independently drive technical problems to resolution; excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Preferred: 8+ years hardware design experience; remote management technologies (Redfish, IPMI); spacecraft avionics, power systems, and thermal systems experience; environmental testing (vibe, thermal vacuum, EMI/EMC); radiation testing for LEO avionics background; track record of ownership and leadership.
This role offers critical hardware system ownership (not just components), fast iteration cycles with direct path from design to hardware testing, close cross-disciplinary collaboration in a tightly integrated team, high autonomy and real impact on spacecraft systems, and opportunity to help define hardware for a new class of space infrastructure.
