Software Engineer, Hardware Test & Automation at Cowboy Space Corp. in CA or Kent, WA

Job description

About Cowboy Space Corp Mission Cowboy Space Corporation is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. We are tackling one of humanity’s most complex engineering challenges with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Cowboy Space Corporation is transforming how civilization powers, computes and connects - from orbit to Earth. Background Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport. Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases. Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others. This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you. The Role We are looking for a Software Engineer, Test & Automation to build and own the software, tooling, and infrastructure used to verify our spacecraft systems throughout the development lifecycle. This includes software-in-the-loop (SIL), hardware-in-the-loop (HITL), environmental and radiation testing, hardware qualification, integration campaigns, and field tests. Today, much of this work is distributed among engineers who carry test infrastructure alongside their primary responsibilities. This role will establish testing and automation as a dedicated, reusable capability that every flight program can rely on. You will develop common frameworks that support multiple concurrent programs, automate complex test operations, and make it easy for flight software, avionics, hardware, and systems engineers to create trustworthy tests. This is a software-focused role with significant hands-on interaction with spacecraft hardware, lab equipment, test facilities, and field operations. Responsibilities • Design, develop, and maintain reusable software frameworks for automated spacecraft testing across SIL, HITL, environmental, radiation, integration, and field-test environments • Own the software and automation for HITL infrastructure that exercises real flight software against flight, engineering, or emulated spacecraft hardware • Build SIL environments that support rapid development, regression testing, fault injection, and validation without requiring physical hardware • Automate environmental and qualification testing, including thermal-vacuum, vibration, shock, electromagnetic compatibility, and other test campaigns • Build scheduling, resource management, and reporting systems that make shared test infrastructure repeatable, self-service, and usable across multiple concurrent programs • Integrate automated tests