Senior Radiation Effects & Resilience Engineer

About Cowboy Space Corp:

Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure.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.

The Role

This role is ideal for engineers who combine deep physics and radiation expertise with strong systems intuition and an interest in building large-scale compute infrastructure beyond Earth. This role is located onsite in San Carlos, CA or Kent, WA.

Responsibilities

• Lead radiation effects analysis and resilience strategy for orbital compute systems.
• Analyze radiation effects on advanced semiconductor devices including GPUs, CPUs, FPGAs, networking ASICs, memory subsystems, and power electronics.
• Evaluate and develop mitigation techniques for SEU, SET, SEL, TID, and displacement damage.
• Define architectural resilience strategies including ECC, redundancy, fault detection and recovery, and software-defined fault tolerance mechanisms.
• Plan and execute radiation test campaigns.
• Coordinate with external laboratories and test facilities to define test conditions, sample preparation, biasing configurations, and data collection methodologies.
• Analyze radiation test results and derive reliability metrics including cross-section analysis, FIT estimation, and mission reliability projections.
• Develop radiation hardness assurance (RHA) methodologies for compute platforms and high-density PCB systems.
• Collaborate with mechanical and packaging teams on shielding and structural mitigation strategies.
• Investigate radiation-induced anomalies and drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Contribute to component selection, platform architecture, and deployment readiness reviews.

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years hands-on experience in radiation effects analysis, radiation testing, or space systems reliability engineering.
• Deep understanding of radiation interactions with semiconductor devices and electronic systems.
• Strong knowledge of Total Ionizing Dose (TID), Single Event Effects (SEE), and Displacement Damage (DDD).
• Experience planning and executing radiation characterization campaigns with external test facilities.
• Experience working with high-performance compute hardware, semiconductor devices, or spaceborne electronics.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with architectural fault tolerance and resilient distributed systems.
• Knowledge of NASA, ESA, ECSS, or MIL-STD radiation qualification standards.
• Experience with shielding optimization and materials
• Experience running radiation simulations and material characterization

Why This Role Is Different

• Own critical hardware systems, not just a small component
• Fast iteration cycles with direct path from design to hardware testing
• Work closely across disciplines in a tightly integrated team
• High autonomy and ownership with real impact on the spacecraft
• Opportunity to help define hardware systems for a new class of space infrastructure

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $185,000 – $200,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off
• 10 paid holidays per calendar year
• Paid parental leave
• Relocation assistance if applicable
• Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

ITAR Requirements

• Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about ITAR here.