Senior Test Engineer - Space

About Us

At Antares, our long-term mission is to make clean energy abundant from Earth to the Asteroid Belt. We’re fueled by the belief that advanced nuclear energy can strengthen our military, solve the climate crisis, elevate global living standards, and expand humanity's presence in outer space. To achieve our mission, we’re building mass-producible, inherently safe, deployable microreactors that can be used terrestrially, underwater, and in space.

Formed in 2023, the Antares team hails from SpaceX, The White House, MIT, Rigetti Computing, The Air Force, General Atomics, Relativity Space, Ursa Major, Ultra Safe Nuclear, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Antares has raised over $39M in venture capital from top-tier investors and has over $4M in government funding.

About the Team

As a Test Engineer in Antares’ Mission Engineering team, you will design, build, and own test infrastructure for terrestrial and space nuclear components and assemblies. You’ll develop end-to-end test plans—from concept to data analysis—for thermal management and heat rejection systems. You will also help develop and document our testing best practices, requirements, and workflow to enable rapid iteration.

On the design side, you will be responsible for collaborating with cross-function teams to ensure that prototype, development, and qualification test articles are being designed with respect to a test plan that validates all critical features and performance parameters. You’ll also design, validate, and continuously maintain test setups to guarantee they deliver the required precision and accuracy.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Architect, build, and employ bespoke test stands and rigs for space nuclear parts and assemblies

• Develop comprehensive test plans and protocols: define instrumentation, execution steps, pass/fail criteria, and data analysis workflows

• Build test schedules and ensure schedule alignment with relevant development and business needs

• Lead test design and readiness reviews and communicate approach/results with stakeholders

• Validate measurement precision and accuracy; procure or design specialized fixtures and sensors as needed

• Create schematics and CAD models of proposed test setups/facilities

• Define the standard process and workflow for testing prototype, qualification, and production-grade parts

• Provide subject matter expertise on test methods, including peer mentoring and development of teammates

• Participate in root cause investigations that arise in test and field operation, implement corrective actions to prevent repeat failures

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or physics

• 5+ years of hands on test engineering experience designing and building test rigs and executing thermal and mechanical tests

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Master’s degree or higher in mechanical or aerospace engineering

• Proven ability to architect, build, and employ test stands from scratch

• Experience designing assemblies and test fixtures using CAD systems

• Experience integrating and using test instrumentation and control components (e.g. pressure transducers, thermocouples, strain gages, relays, solenoid valves, etc.).

• Experience using LabVIEW, SIMULINK, or other test software.

• Experience testing space thermal management or heat-rejection systems, or experience testing components in a vacuum

• Experience in mechanical, durability, and materials testing

• Leadership experience on a project or research team

• Strong project management skills, cross discipline communication, and interpersonal and collaborative skills

• Experience with various part inspection methods and technologies (micrometers, CMM, white light, etc.)

• Knowledge of PLM, ERP, and other related manufacturing planning and management systems

• Strong Python or other programming experience

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to work nights and weekends as needed to meet business milestones

Location

• We are located in Torrance, CA in a 145,000 square foot, brand new facility featuring large open spaces for team collaboration, R&D, and production, as well as easy access to the 405, 105, and 110 freeways. Our facility is in the heart of Los Angeles' vibrant emerging tech ecosystem alongside many other high growth startups and enterprises.

Culture

At Antares, we like to specifically tie each role to our founding document’s set of values–here are the top five cultural values we think you should believe at your core to be successful:

• Think in Systems - Energy and Defense are complex ecosystems with numerous stakeholders with competing priorities, conflicting policies, perverse incentives, and emergent and path-dependent properties. First principles thinking alone is insufficient. Think probabilistically and then take action. “If you want to be certain, then you are apt to be obsolete.” Over-optimizing the components often degrades the system

• Obsess over the End User - The customer and end user are often not the same. We will never build globally competitive commercial products if we lose sight of our end users and their entire interaction with the product life cycle

• Be Unconstrained by Convention - Our only limits are the laws of physics. Many, even experts, will say what we are working on is impossible. They said the same about SpaceX reusing rockets. Generationally impactful companies, by definition, must accomplish the seemingly impossible. If it were easy, it would have already been done. Never shy away from a solution because it has never been tried before, and never choose to do something because that's “how it's always been done”

• Craftsmen - We also focus on the inputs. We aspire to high-quality engineering for its own sake. As such, we invest in personal growth, learning, and developing a long-term career path for exceptional individual contributors. We embrace a beginner’s mindset, share knowledge, and never condescend the curious

• Seriously Optimistic - We’re ambitious and we believe we’re capable of achieving things others believe are impossible. We reward audacity and don’t let cynicism, sarcasm, snark, or belittlement influence us to lower the bar

Equal Opportunity

Antares is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, competence, and qualifications, without regard to 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.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.