Satellite Test Engineer – I (Checkout Systems)

Digantara is a leading Space Surveillance and Intelligence company focused on ensuring

orbital safety and sustainability. With expertise in space-based detection, tracking,

identification, and monitoring, Digantara provides comprehensive domain awareness across

regimes, allowing end users to have actionable intelligence on a single platform. At the core of

its infrastructure lies a sophisticated integration of hardware and software capabilities aligned

with the key principles of situational awareness: perception (data collection), comprehension

(data processing), and prediction (analytics). This holistic approach empowers Digantara to

monitor all Resident Space Objects (RSOs) in orbit, fostering comprehensive domain

awareness.

Ideal Candidate: 

Someone with 3 to 6 years of hands-on experience in spacecraft or high-reliability electronics test who can take a checkout system and make it productive - building out test content, running spacecraft-level campaigns on it, and producing evidence that stands up in review.

Responsibilities:

• Develop, and maintain test sequences, limit sets, and automation content within the delivered checkout platform, structured so that test content remains portable if the underlying platform changes.

• Verify power, data, and timing interfaces at the bus-to-payload boundary: regulated and unregulated rails, RS422/485, CAN, LVDS, Gigabit Ethernet, bi-level discretes, PPS timing, and temperature monitor channels.

• Plan and execute spacecraft-level campaigns - payload integration, functional, self-compatibility, thermal vacuum, and end-to-end test - and generate test procedures, test reports, and non-conformance reports.

• Troubleshoot checkout system faults to the point of isolating vendor versus in-house responsibility, and provide the technical detail needed to open and close vendor support cases.

• Maintain configuration control of the checkout system across module swaps, firmware and software updates, so results remain comparable across a multi-unit build.

• Maintain electronics lab and Ground Support Equipment infrastructure (equipment configuration, calibration schedules, cabling, ESD-safe workstations) and train technicians and interns on checkout system operation.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's/Master's degree in Electronics/Electrical/Instrumentation, or a relevant technical discipline.

• 3 to 6 years of hands-on experience in electronics hardware testing, validation, or integration in satellite/launch vehicle avionics, or other high-reliability domains.

• Demonstrated ownership of a test campaign from procedure authoring through execution to signed test report.

• Working experience with a commercial test platform ecosystem - NI (PXI, TestStand, VeriStand, LabVIEW) or Keysight (PathWave) - sufficient to develop and maintain test sequences independently of vendor support.

• Ability to work from electrical and software interface control documents and turn them into executable test cases with clear pass/fail criteria.

• Proficiency in using lab equipment i.e., oscilloscopes, power supplies, electronic loads, digital multimeters, and protocol analysers for bring-up, debug and functional testing.

• Understanding of data communication protocols SPI, I2C, UART, RS422/485, CAN, LVDS, and Gigabit Ethernet, including termination, isolation, and fail-safe behaviour.

• Working proficiency in Python for test automation and data handling.

• Hands-on soldering and rework skills including through-hole and surface-mount components for prototyping, repair, and test fixture assembly.

Preferred Skills:

• Ability to debug a framed wire protocol at packet level - framing, CRC integrity, sequence handling - sufficient to diagnose faults independently rather than escalating every issue to the vendor.

• Experience operating or commissioning EGSE, checkout systems, or SCOE.

• Experience supporting factory or site acceptance testing of a supplied system.

• Experience with thermal vacuum, self-compatibility, and end-to-end spacecraft-level test campaigns.

• Certification in IPC-A-610/IPC J-STD-001/IPC-7711/7721 is an advantage.

• Familiarity with version control (Git) and configuration management for test scripts, GSE builds, and setups.

• Familiarity with cleanroom protocols and handling optical payload is an added advantage.

General Requirements:

• Ability to work in a mission-focused, operational environment.

• Ability to think critically and make independent decisions.

• Interpersonal skills to enable working in a diverse and dynamic team, including with overseas vendors across time zones.

• Maintain a regular and predictable work schedule, with extended-hours support during test campaigns.

• Writing and delivering technical documents and briefings.

• Verbal and written communications skills as well as organizational skills.

• Travel occasionally as necessary, including to vendor facilities to support acceptance testing.

  Job Location: Hebbal, Bengaluru.