Senior Design Reliability Engineer
- US citizenship
- ITAR / US person
How this pay compares
This posting states $150k–$190k a year. Open quality engineer jobs in California post a median of $148k a year, the middle half $122k–$166k, across 128 jobs that state their pay, so this one is above the middle half of what they post.
Quality engineers and inspectors in California: pay by town and employer
About the job
As a Senior Design Reliability Engineer at Impulse, you will own the standardization and implementation of Impulse’s design process.
You will lead cross-functional efforts on setting design standards, margining approach, configuration management, and templates. ## Responsibilities - Define and document design standards and best practices for structures, propulsion, avionics, composites, mechanisms, and more - Define and document our margining approach - Own the design release workflow processes, from CAD to PLM to MRP and ERP - Define the design review process, templates, and milestones - Create and manage tools to compile design-informing data and information, traceability of changes, and key decision points - Provide design-for-reliability guidance during design reviews and build planning - Develop and implement robust design configuration management processes - Use build and flight data to influence requirements, assumptions, and decisions - Act as a specification custodian for our design, margining, configuration, and release processes - Ensure product integrity by holding the line on quality standards, extreme-owning design containments, and driving corrective actions to completion - Liaise with build reliability, quality, and flight reliability to solve problems together ## Minimum Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field - 5+ years of experience in hardware design and analysis for aerospace, automotive, or high-reliability systems - Demonstrated experience supporting design-for-manufacturing of builds, integration, or test of primary structures and/or complex mechanical or electromechanical systems - Strong problem-solving skills with demonstrated root cause analysis experience - Strong theoretical and working knowledge of GD&T ## Preferred Skills and Experience - 8+ years of demonstrated design reliability experience with spacecraft, launch vehicles, aviation, robotics, or hardware - Familiarity with AS9100, ISO 9001, or similar quality systems (practical application preferred over documentation focus) - Demonstrated experience with reliability engineering concepts (FMEA, reliability growth, Weibull analysis) - Demonstrated background working closely with cross-functional teams - Demonstrated experience supporting rapid development or prototype-to-production transitions ## Additional Requirements - Flexible schedule and willing to travel as needed ## Additional Information Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data.
Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity.
In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan. To conform to U.S.
Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you 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 the ITAR here .
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
From Impulse Space's job posting, checked 7 Nov 2026. The employer's own page is the final word on requirements and availability.
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About Impulse Space
Transfer vehicles that carry satellites past the orbit their rocket leaves them in.
Pay on its listings: 100% of its open jobs state an hourly rate
How it pays: Paid as an employee on Impulse Space's own payroll (salaried or hourly, as each posting states).
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