Senior Manufacturing Engineer (Space Solar)

Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), California, United States

Salary: $145,000–$180,000 per year plus equity

Company

hirify.global develops and manufactures robotic systems and infrastructure for producing water, power, and oxygen on the Moon and Mars, with Starlight Solar focused on space solar power.

What you will do

• Own the technical strategy for CIC integration, interconnect welding, coverglass attachment, and panel layup from development through high-rate production.
• Drive manufacturing yield, production rate, and cost while setting performance targets for the solar manufacturing line.
• Design and qualify precision tooling, automated cells, and automation programs for cell laydown, interconnect bonding, and coverglass placement.
• Develop in-process inspection systems including electroluminescence imaging, IV/flash testing, and automated optical inspection.
• Partner with cell and panel design engineering on design-for-manufacturing decisions and production handoffs.
• Mentor manufacturing engineers, establish technical standards, and simplify specifications and workflows.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in aerospace, manufacturing, materials, mechanical, electrical, or a related engineering discipline.
• At least 6 years of manufacturing and process design experience, including ownership from development through production.
• Experience taking manufacturing processes from prototype through qualification and stable, high-rate production.
• Experience leading technical work across design, quality, operations, and supply chain teams.
• Must meet U.S. Government export-control eligibility requirements: U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or eligible to obtain the required authorization.

Nice to have

• Experience manufacturing photovoltaic hardware, especially multi-junction III-V cells for space or other high-reliability applications.
• Expertise in cell interconnect joining, coverglass attachment, encapsulation, adhesive or RTV bonding, and weld or bond inspection.
• Experience scaling automated manufacturing lines, conducting rate-readiness reviews, and leading yield-improvement campaigns.
• Knowledge of LIV/flash testing, electroluminescence, IV-curve analysis, FMEA, SPC, Cp/Cpk, root-cause investigation, SQL, or data-management tools.
• Prior experience mentoring manufacturing engineers or working with aerospace and other high-reliability hardware.

Culture & Benefits

• Frequent travel is required.
• Full-time position with compensation that scales with experience.
• Equity package included.
• PTO and health, dental, and vision coverage provided.
• Inclusive equal-opportunity workplace committed to diversity.