Vast
Solar Array Test Engineer
$112K–$230K
Long Beach, California, United States · Full-time · Posted Sep 22, 2026
- Experience
- 5+ years required; 8+ years preferred.
- Education
- Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, materials engineering, physics, or related engineering discipline.
About the job
Owns qualification and verification testing of solar array hardware and photovoltaic technologies for space use, from test planning and execution through data analysis and documentation.
What you'll do
- Plan and execute environmental and functional test campaigns across solar array hardware levels; define criteria, instrumentation, and data acquisition configurations.
- Analyze results, investigate anomalies and failures, and maintain verification documentation throughout the product lifecycle.
- Coordinate testing across internal facilities and external labs, and collaborate with engineering teams to verify designs and develop test capabilities.
What they ask for
- Bachelor of Science in mechanical, aerospace, electrical, or materials engineering, physics, or a related engineering discipline.
- 5+ years of hardware testing experience for satellites, spacecraft, or high-reliability aerospace systems.
- Hands-on experience planning and executing environmental tests on flight or qualification hardware; experience authoring test plans, procedures, and reports.
- Familiarity with data acquisition, instrumentation, and test automation; working knowledge of photovoltaic device physics and space-environment degradation; proficiency with MATLAB, Python, or equivalent.
Nice to have
- 8+ years in satellite or spacecraft test engineering, including direct solar array or deployable-structure testing.
- Experience with photovoltaic characterization, radiation degradation testing, AM0 solar simulator calibration, or qualifying non-space-heritage/COTS hardware for spaceflight.
Pay
$112,340 — $230,472 USD (base salary)
Tools
MATLAB, Python, AIAA S-111, AIAA S-112, SMC-S-016, GEVS, MIL-STD-1540, NX
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative