Test Engineer

Background
Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.
Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure.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.
This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.

The Role

How fast we can test will set how fast this program moves. You are being hired to make that cycle short: build the stands, then run them. Fluids, mechanical, instrumentation, and controls, from blank sheet through commissioning into routine operation. Hardware and software, mechanical and electrical, testing components, engines, and full stages. When something misbehaves at two in the morning, you figure out whether it's the article, the stand, or the sensor.

What You'll Do

• Design and build fluid, mechanical, instrumentation, and control systems for component, engine, and stage-level test

• Write test procOwn P&IDs and take fluid system designs from schematic through procurement, fabrication, and checkout

• Operate, maintain, and troubleshoot those systems once live, including the electrical and software side

• Safely operate high-pressure and cryogenic systems: LOX, LNG, high-pressure gas

• Develop procedures people can follow under pressure, then run them as test conductor

• Perform hazard analysis and set the safety controls, exclusion zones, and abort criteria for your setups

• Instrument tests so they answer the question: sensor selection, calibration, DAQ, and sample rates that survive the actual event

• Reduce and present test data, and drive anomalies to root cause rather than a retest

• Own your stand project schedules, especially the long-lead items nobody else is watching

What We're Looking For

• 4-8 years of relevant test experience: propulsion, fluids, energetics, or industrial systems where a mistake had physical consequences

• First-principles depth in fluids, thermo, and structures, enough to reason about a system on a whiteboard before opening a tool

• Experience creating P&IDs and building the system they describe

• Experience integrating and troubleshooting mechanical and electronic systems together, because that's where the failures live

• Experience with high-pressure or hazardous environments, and the habits that come with it

• Experience writing and operating test procedures

• Enough software to be dangerous: data reduction, control sequences, scripting. Python preferred

• Self-direction: you'll often be the only person who knows the state of your system

• Strong writing. A procedure and a test report are both writing jobs

• Willingness to own large and small tasks alike, with a humble and positive attitude

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or similar

Nice to Have

• Designing cryogenic fluid systems from scratch

• Hands-on liquid rocket engine hotfire experience, on the stand rather than adjacent to it

• LOX and methane or LNG specifics: cleanliness, materials compatibility, ignition

• Control system work: PLCs, sequencing, interlocks, valve and actuator selection

• Fabrication literacy (welding, machining, tube bending)

• Structural, proof, burst, or environmental test experience alongside propulsion

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $130,000- 190,000 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.

• 401(k) retirement savings plan

• Paid time off

• 10 paid holidays per calendar year

• Paid parental leave

• Relocation assistance if applicable

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.