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Salary: USD 140,333 - 179,314 / annual
Varda Space Industries is accelerating commercial space infrastructure development, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable reentry capsules. The company designs, builds, and operates its W-Series vehicles in-house, including pharmaceutical processing payloads, capsules, C-PICA heat shields, and satellite buses. Varda is backed by top-tier investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund, with leadership and staff from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and major pharmaceutical companies.
As Senior Build Reliability Engineer, you will partner closely with design and manufacturing teams to right-size processes and controls for scaling spacecraft hardware production. You will ensure production processes yield verified, reliable hardware at rate, and flex beyond Build Reliability to support Quality, Flight Reliability, and Mission Assurance functions.
Key Responsibilities:
- Partner with design engineering and manufacturing teams to create test, manufacturability, and inspection plans for all vehicle hardware
- Contain suspect or 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/execution of mitigations
The ideal candidate is a responsible, collaborative, process-oriented engineer with hands-on hardware design, test, manufacturing, and troubleshooting experience.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in aerospace, computer science, electrical, manufacturing, mechanical, or material sciences engineering
- 5+ 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 analyzing test data and technical documentation
- Hands-on knowledge of CNC machining, additive manufacturing, casting, welding, fastening, or other special manufacturing processes
- U.S. person status required (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) due to ITAR export-control requirements
