JOIN ELFIN!

Thank you for your interest in joining ELFIN! Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting applications for Winter 2024. Please check back in Spring 2024 for updates!

We’re primarily looking for committed students from all disciplines interested in space exploration to fill in the following slots:

  • Electrical Engineers

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Required: Fast learner, clear communication and teamwork skills, demonstrated workmanship and a problem-solving mindset. Major in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.

    • Recommended: Experience with printed circuit board assembly and cable assembly, familiarity with analog electronic circuit design using electrical CAD software like Altium Designer and component library management, and ability to use instruments such as oscilloscope and network analyzer.

    • As a student electrical engineer, your responsibilities will include designing printed circuit boards and test fixtures for satellite avionics and science instruments. Subsystems include the flight computer, radio, global navigation module, power electronics, as well as amplifiers and analog-to-digital converters for scientific instruments. You will be mentored by 2 engineers and build several mission critical boards for an upcoming mission.

  • Flight Software Engineers

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Required: Desire to work on embedded software and writing drivers. Fast learner.

    • Recommended: Experience with embedded C/C++ and driver code.

    • Bonus: Experience with FPGA development.

    • You’ll work to integrate GNC control software into embedded flight software and also help build up a new ground server. Your work will fly in an upcoming mission.

  • Fullstack Developers

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab.

    • Required: Want to work on dynamic web applications. Willingness to learn and adapt to new technologies. Quick learner and effective communicator.

    • Recommended: Personal experience with React, JS/TS, styling responsive websites, interest in designing UI, familiarity with Python and writing APIs.

    • You will be designing and developing customized internal tools and services that support the other teams and scientists at the ELFIN lab.

  • Systems Engineers

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Required: an interest in system level engineering and management. A fast learner and a strong communicator

    • You will drive instrument integration and system level testing, manage resource budgets, and enforce procedures, standards, and documentation for an upcoming satellite demo

  • Machinist/Fabrication Technician

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Required: Attention to detail, organizational skills, ability to work in a fast paced environment. Strong problem solving and mechanical intuition.

    • Recommended: Experience with SolidWorks or CAD, fabrication (manual mill, CNC), 10-20+ hours on a manual “Bridgeport” type mill for stock squaring and/or prototype production.

    • Bonus: CNC experience making parts, CAM programming experience.

    • You will help with developing satellites and instruments for NASA CubeSat science missions. 

  • IT/DevOps Engineer

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab.

    • Required: Effective communicator, active participation in cross-functional team environments, understanding of software development practices, demonstrated interest in infrastructure and configuration management.

    • Recommended: Experience provisioning servers/databases/networks/services necessary for testing and production environments, implementing automated CI/CD pipelines, establishing monitoring systems to track system status and performance, administrating databases.

    • You will help administrate a private network, servers and databases, physical hardware, and more. You will have the opportunity to work with other engineering teams to facilitate new projects with both software and hardware.

And in exceptional cases, we may consider recruiting for the following roles

  • GNC Engineers

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Required: fast and curious learner, strong communication skills.

    • Recommended: familiarity with Python, basic understanding of orbital mechanics. 

    • You will be architecting and implementing simulations for controlling a spacecraft’s orbital trajectory. You will also help with maintaining our internal GNC web service tools.

  • Thermal/TVAC Engineers

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Required: Attention to detail, eager to learn, good with working on a team

    • Recommended: Experience working with piping and instrumentation design/interfacing. Raspberry Pi/coding experience. 

    • You will help improve our thermal desktop raspberry pi stack for testing of instrumentation and satellites.

  • Communications Engineers

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Required: Has or is willing to acquire a Ham Radio license. 

    • You will work on setting up our radio and antenna system used to communicate with future missions. 

  • Mechanical Engineers

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Recommended: Strong problem solving and mechanical intuition. Experience with SolidWorks. Fabrication/prototyping experience.

    • You will help with developing satellites and instruments for NASA CubeSat science missions. 

  • Management Position for ELFIN

    • Expected time commitment: 10 hrs/wk + paid summer internship at the ELFIN lab

    • Recommended: strong leadership skills, eager to learn, good with technology, can code

    • You will help manage the team using a mix of modern project management practices and NASA project management standards.

Recommended skills are meant to indicate attributes that are favored for each position, but are not hard requirements. We look forward to recruiting those who have the time to put in, because there is so much to learn here at ELFIN. From the application pool, we will pick a small subset to interview. Interviews will be conducted in person at the ELFIN lab and we will send decision emails out on a rolling basis.

Thank you for your interest in the ELFIN project!

 

Application FAQ:

School Year: Please indicate your year at UCLA (i.e. 1, 2, etc.).

Resume: Please include the following in your resume (if applicable and relevant):
– Work / Research Experience
– Leadership Experience
– Technical Skills
– Memberships / Organizations
– Awards and Honors

Other Questions: email us at elfin@igpp.ucla.edu