SPACE PAYLOAD AI&T LEAD
Montréal, Québec | On-site | Full-time, permanent
You've taken flight hardware through qualification and delivery before. This time, you own the whole thing: a high-power laser payload, from the first parts on the bench to integration on its satellite and the launch campaign.
THE COMPANY
Our client is a deep-tech space company building laser power beaming systems. High-power lasers and precision pointing send energy wirelessly over long distances to photovoltaic receivers, so spacecraft in orbit and rovers on the Moon get power where and when they need it, including through the two-week lunar night.
They're backed by government contracts in Canada and the US, with flight demonstrations planned in Earth orbit and on the lunar surface. The team is small, technical and growing, and every engineer owns real flight hardware from the lab bench to orbit.
THE ROLE
This is where every discipline's work comes together, and you're the person who turns it into an integrated, tested, flight-ready payload. You decide how it's built, in what order and under what controls, and you produce the evidence that it works after every step.
It's a lead role with your hands on the hardware. You'll write the AI&T plan, lead the build, conduct the tests, support environmental campaigns, act as the payload's integration lead with the satellite provider, and build the AI&T processes the company will run on for years. Reporting to the Director of Engineering, you'll also mentor the engineers and technicians around you and grow the team.
WHAT YOU'LL OWN
- The AI&T plan: integration sequence, test flow, GSE, facilities, schedule and pass/fail criteria
- Verification and environmental test strategy, test readiness reviews and go/no-go calls as test conductor
- Assembly, integration, handling and test procedures under configuration control
- The payload build: mechanical assembly, harnessing, connectors, bonding and grounding, torque and staking
- Laser integration, and safe procedures for operating it in the lab and test chambers
- Electrical safety on flight hardware, including safe-to-mate checks and flight batteries
- Contamination control, cleanroom and ESD discipline
- Packaging, shipping and chain of custody to test facilities, the satellite provider and the launch site
- Support for vibration, shock, thermal vacuum, thermal cycling and EMC campaigns
- The payload-to-satellite interface, mass properties, integration on the spacecraft and the launch campaign
- AI&T processes from scratch: travellers, as-built records, NCRs, anomaly tracking and the acceptance data package
WHAT YOU'LL BRING
Essential: you've taken at least one space payload or spacecraft through full qualification and delivery, hands-on in its assembly, integration and environmental testing.
- 8+ years in space hardware AI&T with a technical degree (3+ years leading integration or test campaigns), or 10+ years building and testing flight hardware with a technical diploma
- Writing AI&T plans and procedures others can follow, with complete as-run records
- Environmental testing: vibration, shock, TVAC, thermal cycling and EMC
- Cleanroom, ESD and contamination control on sensitive flight hardware
- Hands-on mechanical and electrical integration, and electrical safety on flight hardware
- Shipping flight hardware, including export and dangerous-goods paperwork
- Working with drawings, schematics and ICDs, and NCR and anomaly processes with QA
- Space test and workmanship standards: GEVS, SMC-S-016, ECSS-E-ST-10-03C, MIL-STD-461, J-STD-001 space addendum
- Fluent technical English for work with US and European partners
STRONGLY PREFERRED
- Payload integration on a host satellite and time at the launch site
- Designing mechanical GSE, test fixtures and shipping containers
- Space workmanship certification (NASA-STD-8739 or J-STD-001 space addendum)
NICE TO HAVE
- Thermal balance testing and model correlation
- Test automation in Python or LabVIEW
- Building AI&T processes at an early-stage company, not just following them
WORTH KNOWING
You'll need the right to work in Canada and eligibility for the Controlled Goods Program and ITAR-controlled data. Expect travel to test facilities, the satellite provider and launch sites, sometimes for several weeks, and shift work during test campaigns.
Interested? Send your CV to Sam Wiltshire at EVONA, s.wiltshire@evona.com, and name the mission or programme you took through qualification, as far as you're allowed to.
