Senior Electric Propulsion Engineer, Kuiper GNC

Job description

Description
Project Kuiper is Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite broadband network.

Its mission is to deliver fast, reliable internet to customers and communities around the world, and we’ve designed the system with the capacity, flexibility, and performance to serve a wide range of customers, from individual households to schools, hospitals, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations operating in locations without reliable connectivity.

Export Control Requirement: Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

The Senior Electric Propulsion Engineer will provide technical leadership within Kuiper's Propulsion Design Engineering team as a subject matter expert for the electric propulsion system.

This position demands a combination of technical depth, leadership abilities, and systems engineering experience capable of driving innovation of spacecraft propulsion technologies that ultimately enable customer service via the Kuiper satellite constellation.

In this role, you will advise test, manufacturing, and mechanical engineers on electric propulsion best practices.

Your expertise will directly influence all aspects of propulsion system design and development, including propellant storage and delivery, magnetic circuit design, cathode design, propulsion system architecture, avionics requirements, thermal management, embedded software design, and in-flight concepts of operation (CONOPs).

Key job responsibilities
The Senior Electric Propulsion Engineer supports the system and design throughout the hardware development lifecycle, from conception, prototyping, design validation & test, through production manufacturing, and flight operations.

Key responsibilities will include
- impact and influence the full scope of propulsion system design, development, and production including: propellant storage and delivery; thruster magnetic circuit design; cathode design; overall system architecture trades; Propulsion avionics requirements; thermal management; system integration; and propulsion embedded software
- perform detailed system performance and risk analyses to support design trades, risk assessments, and risk mitigation plans
- act with delegated design authority to approve: production non-conformances; changes in design, test, and systems engineering artifacts; and Concepts of Operations for the Kuiper Propulsion system
- identify and assess technical risks based on data and outcomes in development, production, and flight operations
- lead or support test execution for development, validation, and risk assessments - especially for integrated tests across multiple large vacuum chambers suitable for testing Hall effect thrusters
- define test plans & test requirements to meet development and production test objectives
- define procedures for in-flight responses to novel off-nominal scenarios, and directly support flight operations as needed
- lead root-cause and corrective-action investigations supported by multidisciplinary engineering teams (e.g. design, manufacturing, test, quality)

A day in the life
The Senior Electric Propulsion Engineer will work within multi-disciplinary teams as the go-to source for electric propulsion knowledge.

Teams will work on all aspects of propulsion system development, implementation and production and will require you, as propulsion expert, to ensure the key aspects of device operation are being properly considered and tested within constraints.

You will aid in test planning, operation and data analysis, co-author test reports and disseminate impactful results.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, material science, physics or equivalent, or Bachelor's degree and 5+ years of professional or military experience
- 5+ years of experience with electric propulsion technologies through design or test
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's degree or above in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
- 7+ years of developing electric propulsion technologies through design & test cycles
- Experience with Design of Experiments (DOE)
- Familiarity with electric circuit design
- Experience with finite element analysis for electromagnetic fields and/or fluid flow

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers.

If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information.

If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets.

The base pay for this position ranges from $128,600/year in our lowest geographic market up to $213,600/year in our highest geographic market.

Pay is based on a number of factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Amazon is a total compensation company.

Dependent on the position offered, equity, sign-on payments, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits.

For more information, please visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits .

This position will remain posted until filled.

Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.

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