Mechanical Test Engineer, Deployable Antenna Structures at E-Space in Arlington, TX

Job description

Ready to make connectivity from space universally accessible, secure and actionable? Then you’ve come to the right place! E-Space is bridging Earth and space to enable hyper-scaled deployments of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and services. We are building a highly-advanced low Earth orbit (LEO) space system that will fundamentally change the design, economics, manufacturing and service delivery associated with traditional satellite and terrestrial IoT systems. We’re intentional, we’re unapologetically curious and we’re 100% committed to innovate space-based communications and deliver actionable intelligence that will expand global economies, protect space and our planet and enhance our overall quality of life. We are looking for a hands-on Electrical Test Engineer to own electrical verification and electrical ground support equipment (EGSE) for E-Space’s integrated antenna assembly. You will build and troubleshoot electrical test setups, solder test hardware, write test software (Labview, Python), configure and run data acquisition (DAQ) systems, and operate spacecraft and instrument surrogates for verification testing. This is an electrical engineering role with substantial bench and test facility work. You will own the electrical test chain from the hardware connection through acquisition, automation, and recorded evidence. During environmental campaigns, you will work alongside the engineer responsible for mechanical testing, providing electrical test support and functional verification. On-site in Arlington, Texas. Hands-on bench work and test facility presence are required. Some travel between sites expected. What you will do: • Own the antenna assembly’s mechanical deployment test program, from test requirements and procedures through fixture development, test execution, data reduction, and reporting. • Design, build, and improve gravity-offload and support fixtures for large flexible structures. Characterize rig friction and compliance so their effects can be separated from antenna behavior. • Set up and run physical deployment tests. Measure force and torque profiles, boom tip trajectories, deployment timing, and deployed shape using appropriate instrumentation and optical measurement methods. • Investigate unexpected motion, inconsistent deployment, and geometry outliers through inspection, measurements, and controlled follow-up tests. • Establish deployment repeatability against defined requirements, and characterize sensitivity to sequencing, temperature, and lubricant state where required by the test plan. • Work with the deployment mechanism team to characterize actuator output and locked-state stiffness and backlash. • Coordinate subsystem testing and assembly-level deployment testing with the responsible engineers. • Work with the IAS structures analyst to correlate test results with the structural and deployment models, quantify ground-test artifacts, and bound what the results establish about flight deployment. Required qualifications: • BS, MS, or PhD in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent practical engineering experience. • Hands-on experience testing physical mechanisms or deployable hardware, with clear examples of personally setting up, operating, measuring, and troubleshooting hardware. • Practical mechanical judgment: able to reason about forces, motion, friction, stiffness, alignment, and the influence of a test fixture on the hardware being measured. • Experience developing test procedures and using force, torque, motion, or optical measurement instrumentation to obtain repeatable data. • Ability to investigate an anomaly systematically and explain what the evidence supports, what remains uncertain, and what to test next. • Understanding that a ground test under gravity does not automatically reproduce flight deployment conditions. Preferred qualifications: • Deployment testing of antennas, solar arrays, booms, or other flexible flight structures. • Design or operation of gravity-o