The Company
Astra's mission is to improve life on Earth from space by creating a healthier and more connected planet. Astra delivered its first commercial payload into Earth orbit in 2021, making it the fastest company in history to reach this milestone, just five years after being founded in 2016. By achieving monthly, weekly, then daily launches, we'll create the infrastructure services our customers need in space to build a healthier and more connected planet. If you're excited by a sense of possibility, the chance to innovate, and make a difference here on Earth, we think you should work here too.
The Team
The Instrumentation & Controls department focuses on the design, fabrication and deployment of automated test and control systems across the programs and products that Astra builds. We set the standard for the hardware and software that is used to qualify, test and control the products that launch our rockets. Our team touches all aspects of the launch system from the development of custom test equipment used during acceptance and qualification testing of our launch vehicle electronics to the design of custom hardware-in-the-loop systems to simulate a full-fidelity flight of our rocket.
How You'll Fulfill Your Mission
As a Test Engineer working on the Spacecraft Propulsion team, your biggest impact will be supporting our functional hardware and test capabilities for our custom-designed spacecraft thrusters. To achieve this, you support the design, development, and execution of prototype and equipment builds for avionics hardware. Your responsibilities will span PCBA testing and defect detection, sensor/transducer verification, and full system-level functional testing.
Duties Include:

• Design and fabrication of equipment used in the validation and end-of-line (EOL) testing of our spacecraft propulsion systems.
• Development of test software used to perform functional testing of custom avionics hardware (Python preferred).
• Design of custom tooling, equipment and test fixtures for board-level and sub-assembly level testing of electronics (Siemens NX preferred).
• Supporting the build and fabrication of prototype builds of one-off avionics hardware components
• Creation of electrical schematics for custom equipment (AutoCAD Electrical preferred).
• Conduct functional and reliability testing of hardware
• Processing data logs, identifying trends and anomalies, presenting data and forming conclusions. Identifying issues and appropriate next steps.
• Provide technical guidance and support for junior engineers

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in an engineering discipline and 6+ years' experience as a test engineer.
• Experience developing test software for functional checks of development boards, custom avionics hardware, and off-the-shelf aerospace components.
• Experience with industrial schematic capture tools
• Experience designing test fixtures for medium- or high-volume manufacturing environments.
• Hands-on experience with complex electrical or electro-mechanical systems.
• Familiar with test equipment and measurement techniques used to verify and validate product requirements (extensive understanding of instrumentation, interfaces and sensors including DMMs, DAQs, power supplies, oscilloscopes, DIO, GPIB, USB, RS422, VISA, UDP, SPI, switch technologies and topologies, accelerometers, RTDs, thermocouples, etc.).

Desired Multipliers:

• Experience with PCBA design (Altium preferred).
• Experience working with PLCs (AB, Siemens, Beckhoff).
• Experience working in the development of spacecraft components.
• Experience designing equipment for medium/high-volume production environments.

Salary and Benefits
We are competitive in compensation and offer equity as part of the package. We have really good benefits that include health, vision, dental, 401K in comparison to other startups. We offer lunch every day and there's plenty of snacks and drinks to get you through the day. We celebrate our accomplishments with quarterly off-sites and frequent happy hours.
ITAR Requirements: This position requires compliance with U.S. Government space technology trade restrictions, specifically the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and additional regulations governing satellite, launch vehicle, missile, and other related technologies. All jobs restricted by these regulations will be contingent upon the applicant's status as a documented U.S. Person or their ability to receive a trade license from the cognizant government agency; in addition to any required company background checks and in compliance with applicable U.S. and California laws. Similarly, positions requiring the ability to work on government contracts or a security clearance are also contingent upon the applicants ability to receive the appropriate clearance and be allowed to work on U.S. government contracts.
You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Astra, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.
San Francisco Applicants: Astra will consider applicants with arrest and conviction records (criminal histories) in a manner consistent with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.