Radiation Effects Engineer
Summary
Radiation Effects Engineer leading total ionizing dose and single event effects component characterization and qualification for spacecraft flight hardware across LEO to Mars missions. Works with electrical, RF, EMC, and mechanical engineers to ensure radiation reliability through testing, analysis, design standards, and shielding optimization.
As a Radiation Effects Engineer, your core responsibility will be to contribute to the component selection, design, testing, and delivery of flight hardware systems for space missions from low Earth orbit to mars. You’ll work closely with electrical engineers, RF engineers, EMC engineers, mechanical engineers, and test engineers to maximize reliability, perform analysis and testing, and ensure reliable hardware performance across Impulse’s spacecraft.
- Lead total ionizing dose (TID) and single event effects (SEE) component characterization and qualification efforts through testing and test data analysis
- Support radiation testing at off-site locations by developing test procedures and optimizing for
test time - Maintain databases of radiation test data across components and interface with supply chain
and design engineers to utilize and procure component - Create design standards for electrical engineers to maximize radiation reliability on-orbit
- Review circuit board designs and BOMs to ensure compliance with design standards
- Interface with program managers and engineering leadership to ensure radiation-related risks
are accurately represented - Perform or contribute to ray-tracing shielding analysis of avionics enclosures
- Occasional domestic travel to support radiation test campaigns
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, physics, or related technical field
- 2+ years experience in the radiation effects field
- Strong component selection experience for digital, analog, power, and RF systems
- Experience supporting radiation testing campaigns for proton and/or heavy ion
- Experience analyzing radiation test data to establish effects at the circuit-, board-, and vehicle-level
- Experience integrating industrial and/or automotive-grade parts in radiation environments
- 2+ years experience with single event effects (SEE) risk calculations
- Ability to write scripts to control test hardware
- Proficiency with avionics hardware spanning flight computers, radios, and motor controllers
- Familiarity with Altium
- Understanding of semiconductor manufacturing processes
- Orbital dynamics, space experience
- Strong statistical analysis skills
- Experience in electromagnetic effects, surface charging analysis, or characterizing system desense and coexistence
- Familiarity with industry standards such as EEE-INST-002, NASA 8739.11, NASA-HDBK-4002, NASA-STD-4005, or similar
- Experience with orbital and radiation simulation tools such as OMERE, FASTRAD, or similar
