Build Reliability Engineer Optical Inter-Satellit

Ascendion is an AI-native software engineering disruptor helping businesses innovate faster, smarter, and with greater impact. We partner with enterprise clients across North America, the UK, Europe, and APAC to solve complex challenges in data, experience design, software product engineering, and workforce transformation. Powered by expert engineers, thousands of AI agents, and our Engineering to the Power of AI (Engineering

AI) method, we deliver measurable outcomes that build trust, unlock value, and accelerate growth.

Location: Redmond, WA (Onsite)

Industry: Aerospace | Satellite Communications | Advanced Manufacturing

• Join a team developing next-generation Optical Inter-Satellite Link (OISL) technology that will enable high-speed communications across one of the world's most advanced Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks. We are seeking a Build Reliability Engineer to drive manufacturing excellence, product reliability, and quality assurance from prototype development through full-scale production.
• This role sits at the intersection of design engineering, manufacturing, materials science, and reliability engineering. The ideal candidate will be responsible for ensuring complex optical hardware is successfully qualified, transferred into production, and manufactured with the highest levels of quality, consistency, and reliability.

Key Responsibilities:

• Partner with Design, Manufacturing, Quality, and Reliability Engineering teams to identify and manage Critical-to-Function (CtF) parameters.
• Develop, implement, and maintain manufacturing process controls, reliability plans, and quality assurance strategies.
• Lead qualification activities for new products, design revisions, manufacturing processes, and production changes.
• Analyze process, yield, reliability, and inspection data to support real-time engineering decisions.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on yield enhancement, cost reduction, throughput optimization, and risk mitigation.
• Investigate manufacturing, inspection, screening, and test failures to identify root causes and implement corrective actions.
• Review and disposition non-conforming hardware while assessing reliability and mission risk impacts.
• Evaluate material selections, manufacturing deviations, and material substitutions to ensure compliance with performance and reliability requirements.
• Collaborate closely with production teams, suppliers, and engineering stakeholders to ensure successful product launches and sustained manufacturing performance.
• Present findings, recommendations, and risk assessments to cross-functional leadership teams.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Reliability Engineering, or related discipline.
• Experience with failure analysis, root cause investigation, and reliability methodologies.
• Hands‑on experience with PCB and PCBA fabrication, assembly, inspection, and manufacturing processes.
• Strong background in statistical data analysis and process improvement techniques.
• Excellent communication and cross‑functional collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting New Product Introduction (NPI) programs.
• Background in manufacturing process development and production readiness activities.
• Supplier Quality, Production Quality, or Manufacturing Quality experience.
• Strong understanding of materials engineering, material compatibility, and reliability trade‑off analysis.
• Familiarity with qualification standards such as IPC, JEDEC, Telcordia GR‑468, and MIL‑STD‑810.
• Experience using Python, JMP, Minitab, or similar analytical tools.
• Aerospace, satellite, photonics, optical systems, semiconductor, or high-reliability hardware experience preferred.
• This is a unique opportunity to influence the reliability and manufacturability of cutting‑edge space hardware while helping build a global broadband network that will connect millions of people around the world.

Salary Range: The salary for this position is between $130,000 - $135,000 annually. Factors which may affect pay within this range may include geography/market, skills, education, experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

Benefits: The Company offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements: medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, long‑term disability insurance, short‑term disability insurance, personal days accrued each calendar year, Paid time off benefits meet the paid sick and safe time laws that pertains to the City/ State, 12‑15 days of paid vacation time, 6‑8 weeks of paid parental leave after a year of service, 9 paid holidays and 2 floating holidays per calendar year, Ascendion Learning Management System, Tuition Reimbursement Program.

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