Fleet Reliability Engineer

About Northwood:

Northwood is on a mission to transform connectivity between earth and space and bring the benefits of space to the masses through innovations in space communications technologies. If you like building quickly and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe with real impact, we want you at Northwood.

Job Level:

The level of this position will be determined based on the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate. We are open to considering candidates of varying experience levels, from new grad to experienced.

Role:

Northwood is building a global network of next-generation ground stations, and we’re looking for a Fleet Reliability Engineer who is equal parts technical expert, field operator, and builder. You will be the extreme owner of uptime and performance for our deployed hardware worldwide—leading maintenance, in-field troubleshooting, site upgrades, and global sparing strategies. You’ll partner closely with software orgs to design scalable, automated monitoring and response systems. Some days you’ll be in a remote country diagnosing an antenna issue in the field; other days you’ll be deep in large datasets analyzing network performance and reliability trends. The role spans electrical, mechanical, and software domains, giving you broad technical exposure across the stack. This position is based at our Los Angeles headquarters with frequent travel to sites.

Responsibilities:

• Upgrade, troubleshoot, and maintain a growing network of antennas distributed across the globe. Be the extreme owner of the “fleet” uptime and performance.

• Support the rapid expansion of the network by deploying antennas, power systems, and networking infrastructure at remote and challenging sites around the world.

• Partner closely with product, manufacturing, and test teams to influence designs with a focus on system reliability, maintainability, and long-term lifecycle performance.

• Analyze large-scale system performance data and telemetry to identify trends, failure modes, and opportunities for improvement. Partner with software orgs to build dashboards, alerts, and automation to enable rapid detection and response at scale.

• Lead from the front in the field — executing repairs, upgrades, and validation testing on site, while coordinating effectively with contractors and internal Northwood teams.

• Scale a global maintenance ecosystem, including sparing strategies, standardized procedures, preventative maintenance, and trusted regional maintenance partners.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, aerospace, or related engineering discipline

• Experience building, testing, or diagnosing electrical or mechanical systems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ability to work across multiple engineering disciplines and diverse teams.

• Experience reviewing telemetry or large datasets in an operational environment.

• Extreme organization, with strong project management and communication skills.

• Hands-on field experience with proficiency using basic tools.

• Proficiency in 2D or 3D CAD for modeling and/or drawing creation.

• Ability to clearly communicate, track deadlines, and manage complex schedules.

• Willingness to travel to domestic and international ground station sites as required.

• Bonus: Prior experience in failure analysis, product engineering, quality or service in consumer electronics or automotive.

• Bonus: Comfort writing and running code (e.g., Python, SQL, or other scripting languages).

Compensation and Benefits:

Compensation is determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a base-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, and technical capabilities. In addition to base salary, Northwood Space offers long term incentives such as company stock, stock options, and cash awards, as well as discretionary bonus for performance. Northwood Space benefits include equity, health care, unlimited vacation, retirement savings and professional development.

Additional Information:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Northwood is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by 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.

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