Staff Space Electrical Systems Engineer

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 the Staff Space Electrical Systems Engineer at Antares, you will analyze and guide the architecture of power distribution, instrumentation and controls, and hardware-based control systems for our terrestrial and space nuclear reactors/testbeds. You will take ownership of ongoing system-level electrical architecture, R&D testing, and integration efforts, building on existing designs, prototypes, and infrastructure. You will also work together with our Licensing team on hardware regulatory strategy to ensure our multi-platform control systems and electrical networks meet compliance milestones under DOE and NRC and other regulatory specific specifications. Roles and Responsibilities: - Own the electrical system level architecture of our testbed and space nuclear reactors. - Design and assess electronics and control systems for harsh environments (e.g., space, nuclear). - Lead integration, bring-up, and troubleshooting across hardware, firmware, and test infrastructure. - Produce and review controlled technical documentation (schematics/wiring, safety inputs, hazard/FMEA-style analyses, test procedures/reports). - Evaluate multi-OS or embedded control environments for real-time signal acquisition, ensuring minimal downtime or interference. - Coordinate with regulators regarding design basis for instrumentation loops, including fail-safe architecture or redundancy. - Own the relevant Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) inputs that address electrical system hazards or potential single-point failures. - Participate in each formal design review cycle, ensuring electrical/I&C sections are complete, accurate, and documented. - Support the hazard analysis process, identifying possible electrical or instrumentation failure modes and how they’re mitigated. - Verify that the final design meets or exceeds relevant standards for safety-class or safety-significant equipment. Basic Qualifications: - Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Control Systems Engineering, or a related field. - 8+ years in designing and analyzing electrical and/or instrumentation systems, ideally in nuclear, aerospace, energy, or industrial automation. - Familiarity with electrical requirements for regulated environments, including wiring codes, control logic documentation, and safety classification. Preferred Skills & Experience: - Experience with power electronics and/or power conversion systems - Master’s degree or higher in Electrical/Controls Engineering. - Experience designing and employing electrical systems in space and/or nuclear radiation environments. - Understanding of electronic component/system testing for space environments (vacuum, radiation, etc.), and relevant MIL and NASA/ESA standards. - Prior experience in nuclear or defense sectors with knowledge of relevant I&C codes (IEEE 379, IEEE 497, etc.). - Working knowledge of GDE-987 design review steps and DOE-1189 hazards classification. - Experience with advanced control system architecture or SCADA in high-reliability contexts (aviation, nuclear, or automotive safety). - Strong communication skills to explain complex control loops and design rationales to both engineers and regulators. Additional Requirements: - Flexibility to support hardware development milestones—including occasional weekend or long-hour pushes. - Willingness to travel for test campaigns or supplier engagement, as needed. 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.