Senior Test Technician

Job description

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. The Antares team hails from SpaceX, the White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, MIT, Rigetti Computing, General Atomics, Relativity Space, Ursa Major, and National Laboratories like Idaho, Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Savannah River. Antares has raised over $600M in venture capital from top-tier investors and has hundreds of million-dollars on contract with the military services, NASA, and the Department of Energy. About the Role As a Senior Test Technician on the Antares team, you will work directly alongside Test Engineers to build, operate, instrument, and maintain test infrastructure for the R1 reactor. You will be responsible for assembling test stands, integrating sensors and data acquisition systems, wiring and plumbing test hardware, operating tests safely and accurately, and documenting results and issues. This role is deeply hands-on. You will turn engineering concepts into physical test rigs, operate them during development and qualification testing, and feed back real-time observations to engineers to enable rapid iteration. You will be essential in ensuring data quality, test repeatability, and high operational uptime. Roles and Responsibilities: - Build, assemble, and maintain test rigs, fixtures, and support equipment for R1 components and subsystems - Install and route instrumentation including thermocouples, pressure transducers, strain gauges, flow meters, relays, solenoid valves, and electrical wiring - Set up and operate data acquisition systems, sensors, and control hardware - Execute tests following established procedures and document conditions, results, anomalies, and operator observations - Support the Test Engineer in developing test setups, executing test campaigns, and improving procedures - Fabricate brackets, mount points, plumbing, wiring harnesses, and mechanical components (hands-on machining, hand tools, and light fabrication experience preferred) - Maintain test areas, equipment, tools, and safety systems to ensure a clean and safe working environment - Participate in troubleshooting of test stand issues including mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation problems - Assist in root cause investigations by documenting failures, inspecting hardware, and gathering data for engineering review - Maintain accurate records of test configurations, instrument calibrations, hardware changes, and run logs - Support procurement, receiving, and organization of test components, sensors, and consumables Basic Qualifications: - HS Diploma or GED - 5+ years of hands-on experience as a test technician, engineering technician, lab technician, or similar technical role - Experience assembling mechanical systems, test fixtures, or prototype hardware - Experience with instrumentation integration (thermocouples, pressure transducers, strain gauges, etc.) - Familiarity with data acquisition systems and basic test software - Ability to read engineering drawings, schematics, wiring diagrams, and work instructions - Strong mechanical aptitude and experience with hand tools and shop tools - Ability to work safely around high-energy systems, heavy equipment, and complex test setups Preferred Skills & Experience: - Experience building and operating test rigs in an R&D or prototype environment - Experience with plumbing systems (tubing, valves, fittings, brazing, leak checking, etc.) - Experience with electrical wiring, harness building, relays, and control panels - Experience working with technicians and engineers to debug hardware and instrumentation - Familiarity with inspection tools (calipers, micrometers, dial indicators, etc.) - Experience using CAD or simple CAD viewers (for interpreting models and drawings) - Experience working in a fast-paced hardware development environment - Welding, machining, or fabrication experience - Python or general scripting familiarity Additional Requirements: - Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestones - Ability to lift 50 lbs - Standing, climbing, bending, grasping, pulling, pushing, and carrying are required to perform job functions Location - We are located in Torrance, CA in a 322,000 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” - Go Where the Work Is - Never miss a chance to meet a customer, user, or stakeholder face to face, even if that means hopping on a plane. If you can’t make it, find a teammate who can channel your intentions and go in your place. Deep work can be done from anywhere, but we believe teams are built in person, and aim to maximize our time together - Operate in the Grey - Embrace nuance in pursuit of truth. Question every fundamental assumption 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 https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987.