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Salary: USD 130,000 - 190,000 / annual
Cowboy Space is building orbital infrastructure to power and connect the space economy. The company operates satellites in Low Earth Orbit for collecting sunlight and enabling new capabilities—from powering on-orbit compute to transmitting energy via infrared lasers and delivering secure, high-bandwidth optical data. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood co-founder) and backed by leading investors, the team includes aerospace and defense veterans moving quickly to solve complex technical challenges.
As Test Engineer, you will own the design, build, and operation of fluid, mechanical, instrumentation, and control systems for component, engine, and stage-level testing. Your core responsibility is accelerating the test cycle—from blank sheet through commissioning into routine operation. You will design and build test stands for fluids, mechanical systems, instrumentation, and controls; own P&IDs and take fluid system designs from schematic through procurement, fabrication, and checkout; operate, maintain, and troubleshoot systems once live, including electrical and software integration; and safely operate high-pressure and cryogenic systems (LOX, LNG, high-pressure gas).
You will write test procedures that teams can execute under pressure, then run them as test conductor. You will perform hazard analysis, set safety controls, exclusion zones, and abort criteria. You will instrument tests for meaningful data collection—sensor selection, calibration, DAQ, and sample rates that survive the actual event. You will reduce and present test data, drive anomalies to root cause, and own stand project schedules, especially long-lead items.
Required: 4–8 years of relevant test experience in propulsion, fluids, energetics, or industrial systems with real consequences; first-principles depth in fluids, thermodynamics, and structures; experience creating P&IDs and building the systems they describe; experience integrating and troubleshooting mechanical and electronic systems; experience with high-pressure or hazardous environments; experience writing and operating test procedures; enough software to be dangerous (data reduction, control sequences, scripting; Python preferred); self-direction and strong writing skills; Bachelor's in mechanical or aerospace engineering or equivalent.
Nice to have: cryogenic fluid system design from scratch, hands-on liquid rocket engine hotfire experience, LOX and methane/LNG specifics, PLC and control system work, fabrication literacy, structural or environmental test experience.
