Sr. Hardware Process Engineer

Leo is Amazon's low Earth orbit satellite broadband network. Its mission is to deliver fast, reliable internet to customers and communities around the world, and we've designed the system with the capacity, flexibility, and performance to serve a wide range of customers, from individual households to schools, hospitals, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations operating in locations without reliable connectivity.

The Sr. Hardware Process Engineer will be a member of the Amazon Leo Inter-Satellite Link team, focusing on the design, qualification, and sustaining of the test stations and mechanical ground support equipment (GSE) that build and verify the optical terminal — the precision pointing subsystem behind every optical link. The ideal candidate has extensive experience developing and qualifying test stations and manufacturing processes for precision electro-mechanical hardware, and driving failure investigations to root cause in development and production environments.

This is a hands-on role for a highly collaborative individual that combines superb technical, analytical, and documentation capabilities to translate flight-hardware requirements into repeatable, poka-yoked build and test processes, while optimizing to support high-volume production and meeting cross-discipline requirements.

Export Control Requirement:
Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Key job responsibilities
We're seeking an engineer with an aerospace or precision-hardware background who delivers results quickly and effectively. You will own the end-to-end build and test process for satellite payload systems—translating product requirements into process specifications including acceptance criteria, test sequencing, and defect detection strategies.

You'll define functional requirements for GSE and test systems (alignment capability, positional accuracy, pass/fail thresholds, cycle-time targets) and collaborate with Test and ME teams on station readiness. You'll own yield performance (FPY/LPY), lead root cause investigations, and implement corrective actions such as alignment flow updates, torque sequence changes, and screening improvements.

Responsibilities include maintaining process documentation (process maps, CTQ checks, troubleshooting guides, training requirements) and managing controlled deployment of process changes with readiness checks and feedback loops. You'll serve as the cross-functional connector between design, test, manufacturing, and quality—ensuring alignment throughout the program.

Working closely with Quality Engineering, you'll define the PFMEA and control plan for assembly, alignment, and test processes, ensuring critical-to-quality characteristics are identified and verified in production. You'll also partner with prototyping, electrical/firmware, and manufacturing planning teams to achieve design intent, cost effectiveness, and production throughput.

A day in the life
As a Sr. Hardware Process Engineer, you'll define build processes, set requirements, design test stations and fixtures, conduct design reviews, build and qualify hardware, and lead failure investigations. This cross-functional role requires strong leadership and constant collaboration with multiple HW/SW design teams and end-users across Amazon locations.
You'll face challenging, novel situations daily while working alongside top-notch engineers and spacecraft design and integration teams. You should be comfortable with ambiguity, thrive in a fast-paced environment with high autonomy, and be energized by solving problems that haven't been solved at scale before.
Along the way, you'll learn a lot, have fun, and make a positive impact on tens of millions of people.

Basic Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or an equivalent field
- 7+ years of manufacturing, test, or GSE engineering experience, or equivalent experience
- 5+ years of experience with test station or manufacturing process development on precision electro-mechanical hardware (aerospace, defense, semiconductor, optical, robotics, or medical device)
- Experience with ownership of a test station or manufacturing process from requirements through production hand-off
- Experience with precision motion metrology: encoders, hall sensors, torque measurement, and run-out/TIR inspection
- Experience in CAD (NX preferred) design, and 2D drawings
- Experience running formal failure investigations (8D, fishbone) and driving corrective action through an engineering-change process
- Experience with GD&T and tolerance stack-up analysis
- Experience partnering with Quality Engineering to develop PFMEAs and control plans

Preferred Qualifications

- Direct experience on optical or opto-mechanical assemblies (telescopes, gimbals, coarse/fine pointing systems, interferometry, fast-steering mirrors)
- Experience specifying and integrating precision stages (Thorlabs, Aerotech, PI) and lab test equipment (Keysight power supplies, source meters)
- Familiarity with TestStand, LabVIEW, or Python-based test automation and log parsing
- Experience authoring test station requirement documents and running PDRs/CDRs
- 5+ years of experience with development, and test of aerospace systems
- Experience with Design-for-Assembly (DFA) methods; poka-yoke as second nature
- Familiarity with harness design and fabrication for lab test equipment
- Prior work supporting on-orbit anomaly investigations or production rework flows
- Experience with aerospace manufacturing at rate
- Use of engineering project management software such as JIRA, Confluence, or other Agile tools
- Strong communication, documentation and writing skills

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, WA, Redmond - 159,200.00 - 215,300.00 USD annually