Founding Lead Space Power Electronics Engineer
Pillar Space
Founding Lead Space Power Electronics Engineer
Pillar Space
Reusable orbital infrastructure for payload hosting
Equity: 0.3% – 1% depending on experience
We're a stealth team building space hardware at the edge of what's currently possible — high-stakes, flight-grade systems where the engineering bar is unforgiving and the upside is enormous. While we can't share full details yet, our founding and early engineering team includes talent from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Impulse Space, the group includes people who've pulled off feats almost no one else on Earth has.
We're seeking a Founding Lead Space Power Electronics Engineer to take ownership of the electrical power system from first principles — driving the design of power generation, energy storage, conversion, regulation, and distribution from concept through analysis, build, and qualification. You'll make the early architecture decisions the rest of the program is built on, set the standards and tooling, and grow the power team behind you.
Own the end-to-end design of the electrical power system — power generation, energy storage, regulation, distribution, and harnessing — from concept through detailed design, prototyping, qualification, integration, and on-orbit operations.
Build and maintain power and energy budgets across every mission phase and orbital condition — eclipse vs. insolation, peak vs. average loads, safe mode, and beginning- to end-of-life margins.
Size, specify, and/or design solar arrays: cell and string selection, substrate and layout, deployment, sun-pointing/SADA considerations, and degradation/EOL performance.
Define the battery system: Li-ion cell selection, pack and module design, charge and discharge regulation, depth-of-discharge and cycle-life budgeting, thermal management, and cell-level safety and protection.
Design or specify the power distribution and conditioning unit (PCDU/PDU): bus architecture and regulation topology (DET vs. MPPT/PPT), switching, current limiting (LCLs/fusing), inrush, EMI/EMC, and fault protection.
Design the spacecraft harness: wire-gauge sizing and derating, shielding, grounding and bonding architecture, connector selection, routing, and mass/loss budgets.
Perform reliability and worst-case analysis — worst-case circuit analysis, parts-stress and derating, FMEA, and fault management; identify and retire single-point failures across the power system.
Select EEE and rad-tolerant parts, own the EPS parts list, and manage derating, obsolescence, and lead-time risk.
Lead EPS functional test, design EGSE and test automation, and run environmental campaigns (thermal vacuum, vibration, EMI), supporting spacecraft-level integration and test.
Drive make-or-buy decisions, evaluate and manage vendors, and carry EPS deliverables through PDR/CDR and on to flight.
Define requirements, loads, interfaces, error budgets, and verification plans at the component, subsystem, and system levels.
Build and test prototypes and power testbeds, analyze failures, and drive root-cause resolution and design iteration.
Work cross-functionally with systems, thermal, controls/ADCS, avionics, propulsion, structures, software, and manufacturing to close interfaces and deliver an integrated flight system.
Establish EPS processes, tooling, and documentation from scratch, and mentor and grow the power team as we scale.
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline — including mechanical engineers with strong electrical and power-system experience.
2+ years designing, building, analyzing, and testing power electronics or complex electrical hardware.
Solid fundamentals in power electronics (DC-DC conversion, switching and linear regulation, current sensing, MPPT or peak-power tracking), energy storage, and power distribution — or a track record of picking up electrical depth quickly from an adjacent hardware background.
Experience with battery systems, including cell selection, pack design, battery management, and safety.
Proficiency with schematic capture, board-level design review, and circuit simulation/analysis.
Experience with power budgeting, energy-balance analysis, and load analysis.
Understanding of the space environment and its effects on power hardware — radiation, thermal vacuum, charging, and eclipse cycling.
Lab fluency: comfortable on the bench with instruments, EGSE, debugging, and test automation.
Hands-on experience building, debugging, and testing electrical hardware.
Experience designing power systems for space, vacuum, or other harsh environments — including thermal qualification, vibration, and radiation effects.
Experience with space-qualified battery design and safety — including BMS, cell-level protection, Li-ion safety, and thermal-runaway mitigation.
Deep MPPT / peak-power-tracking design experience.
Familiarity with rad-tolerant parts selection and derating standards (e.g., NASA JSC 20793, ECSS, or AIAA EPS practices).
Experience designing or procuring solar arrays, including sizing, string design, and the interface to deployment mechanisms.
Experience with harness design, grounding and bonding architecture, and EMI/EMC.
PCB layout for power electronics and harness fabrication/inspection experience.
Experience with requirements verification, formal hardware qualification, and V&V processes.
Familiarity with PLM tools and configuration-managed hardware development.
Experience transitioning hardware from prototype to flight production.
Familiarity with early-stage startups or founding teams.
An exceptional engineer with experience in demanding, high-reliability hardware environments (e.g., aerospace, robotics).
Adept at taking full ownership of electrical power systems from blank sheet to implementation.
Comfortable working with high ambiguity, rapidly changing requirements, and limited resources.
A collaborative builder who elevates those around you and drives technical excellence.
Build incredibly ambitious, world-first hardware alongside world-class talent.
Define the product, culture, and trajectory of a breakthrough company from the start.
Own significant technical challenges and create outsized impact.
Health Insurance — We cover the full base premium for Blue Shield's Bronze plan. If you'd like more coverage, you can upgrade to the Gold plan and just cover the difference in premium. You're also welcome to add dependents and a spouse to your plan.
Dental & Vision — We cover the base premiums for both, through Guardian. Coverage for dependents and a spouse is available too.
401(k) — We offer a 401(k) with a 4% company match to help you save for the future.
Equity — You'll receive meaningful equity in the company, so you share in what we build together.
PTO & Sick Time — We offer unlimited PTO and sick time, and we trust you to take the time you need to rest and recharge.
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
Reusable orbital infrastructure for payload hosting
Pillar Space builds reusable satellites that stay in orbit and act as rentable infrastructure for other payloads. A customer launches a payload in a standardized adapter, and Pillar Space’s satellite autonomously docks with it in low Earth orbit, then supplies power, data, thermal management, mobility and mission operations for the lease, with an optional capsule re-entry to return finished products to Earth. This on-orbit docking-based service lets customers test and operate in microgravity without owning their own spacecraft. The team includes veterans from Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicles and alumni from SpaceX and Impulse Space, backed by South Park Commons, with a first mission window targeted for 2028 to provide persistent orbital infrastructure for biotech, semiconductors, materials, and defense clients.
Explore more opportunities at Pillar Space