SSL Engineering Manager, Amazon Leo

Amazon 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.

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.

We are looking for an experienced Engineering Manager to lead our SSL Manufacturing Test engineering team at Amazon Leo. In this role, you will own the people, processes, and equipment that keep our functional and environmental tests running at peak performance. You will lead a team of engineers, setting the technical direction and operational strategy for functional testing of satellite hardware. You will be responsible for building and developing a high-performing engineering team while also rolling up your sleeves to solve complex technical challenges alongside them.

You should be comfortable with a high degree of ambiguity and relish the idea of solving problems that haven't been solved at scale before. Along the way, we guarantee that you will learn a lot, have fun, and make a positive impact on tens of millions of people.

Key job responsibilities
People Management & Team Leadership

- Directly manage a team of frontline support engineers supporting multiple LRU's via functional and environmental testing
- Hire, develop, and retain top engineering talent; conduct performance reviews and support career growth
- Set clear goals and priorities for the team; foster a culture of ownership, safety, and continuous improvement
- Serve as an escalation point for technical issues and unblock the engineering team during daily test operations

Technical Leadership & Operations

- Own the strategy and execution for all test equipment
- Serve as the primary technical authority and owner for test equipment systems: maintenance, calibration, troubleshooting, bring-up, and commissioning of new equipment
- Troubleshoot and identify root causes of issues in test processes; implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence
- Partner with IT Infrastructure professionals to resolve networking and communication issues with test equipment
- Establish and continuously improve functional test processes to maximize output and enable rapid transition from engineering development to rate production

Process Development & Operational Excellence

- Identify improvement opportunities and execute initiatives to ensure product quality, reduce lead time, and increase productivity
- Enable production test autonomy by challenging requirements, simplifying work procedures, and automating actions
- Participate in lean manufacturing improvement efforts and drive operational excellence initiatives
- Establish and maintain calibration procedures and visual management of production tooling and equipment

Cross-Functional Partnership

- Partner with cross-functional teams including electrical engineering, RF engineering, mechanical engineering, thermal engineering, test software, flight software, reliability, maintenance, quality, and program management
- Represent the Integrated SSL value stream in program reviews, roadmap planning, and resource discussions with senior leadership

Manage vendor relationships through procurement, testing, and installation of new and modified equipment
Manage tight project timelines by removing blockers and executing steps in a timely manner to ensure all deliverables are met

A day in the life
As the Engineering Manager of the SSL Engineering team, you will balance people leadership with hands-on technical engagement. Your days will include coaching and developing your engineering team, reviewing test rack readiness and calibration status, and engaging directly with cross-functional partners to align on priorities for continuous improvement and new process development. You will be the go-to engineering leader when production issues arise — driving rapid root cause analysis and corrective action. You will also spend time building the team's long-term capabilities: hiring great engineers, developing processes that scale, and investing in automation that reduces manual burden on your team.

About the team
This is a fast-paced, intellectually challenging position, and you’ll work with leaders in multiple technology areas. You’ll have relentlessly high standards for yourself and everyone you work with, and you’ll be constantly looking for ways to improve your product’s performance, quality and cost. We want individuals who are ready for this challenge and want to reach beyond what is possible today.

Basic qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in electrical or mechanical engineering
- 5+ years of engineering team management experience
- 5+ years of hardware development, test lab, space/aerospace maintenance or hands-on engineering environment experience

Preferred qualifications

- Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
- Experience defining KPI's/SLA's used to drive multi-million dollar businesses and reporting to senior leadership
- Experience leading manufacturing of components and assemblies for Space applications
- Proven ability to structure and simplify complex challenges in ambiguous operating conditions
- - "Experience operating and/or managing environmental test equipment including vibration tables and dynamics test systems"
- experience operating or supporting thermal vacuum chamber test programs for aerospace or space hardware"

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 - 131,900.00 - 178,100.00 USD annually