Engineering Technician

Engineering Technician

IRPI is pioneering the hardware that sustains life and enables exploration beyond Earth. We design and build flight systems for spacecraft, habitats, and suits, advancing systems that manage air, water, waste, and thermal control for human missions. Our portfolio spans CO₂ removal and air revitalization, hydroponics, biological sample processing, waste management, and fire safety, as well as condensing heat exchangers, propellant management devices, lunar lander components, and advanced suit subsystems.

What makes IRPI unique is how we integrate research, design, and fluid-thermal engineering to produce hardware that performs in challenging environments. From early-stage concepts to flight-qualified systems, we transform ideas into tested, mission-ready technology that expands the boundaries of human presence in space.

As an Engineering Technician, you'll be the hands-on backbone of our lab. Working alongside our early-career, mid-level, and senior engineers, you'll turn designs into physical hardware — building test rigs, assembling engineering units, running laser ablation manufacturing operations, post-processing 3D-printed parts, and keeping our lab and shop equipment running at its best.

This is a builder's role. You'll touch nearly every project in the building, and the quality of your work will show up directly in the test data and flight hardware our team delivers to NASA and commercial space partners. If you take pride in clean assemblies, well-maintained tools, and hardware that works the first time, you'll fit right in. This position requires access to export-controlled technology;

U.S. citizenship or nationality is required.

Key responsibilities include:

• Building, assembling, and modifying test rigs and experimental setups under the direction of project engineers.
• Fabricating and assembling engineering units and mechanical assemblies from drawings, CAD models, and verbal direction.
• Operating and maintaining laser ablation manufacturing equipment, including setup, fixturing, and quality checks of finished parts.
• Performing post-processing of 3D-printed parts (support removal, curing, surface finishing, inspection) across FDM and SLA workflows.
• Performing routine and preventive maintenance on lab, shop, and test equipment; troubleshooting issues and coordinating repairs.
• Supporting engineers during test campaigns — setup, instrumentation hookup, teardown, and hardware turnaround.
• Maintaining an organized, safe, and well-stocked shop and lab environment, including tracking consumables and tooling.
• Documenting builds, maintenance activities, and as-built configurations clearly and consistently.
• Flagging design or manufacturability issues early and suggesting practical improvements — your hands-on perspective makes our hardware better.

We're looking for a technician who takes pride in craftsmanship and enjoys working across many different projects and processes.