GPU System Reliability Engineer Lead

Background

Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.

Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases.

Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others.

This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.

The Role

Deploying high-performance GPU compute in Low Earth Orbit introduces a fundamentally different fault landscape than ground-based datacenter operation. This role sits at the frontier of that problem. When a fault occurs 500km above Earth, the system must detect it, classify it, contain it, and recover from it autonomously.

You will own the end-to-end RAS validation strategy for GPU server systems, working directly with GPU and HBM silicon partners to analyze failures, characterize fault propagation paths, and ensure detection and recovery mechanisms function correctly.

The right candidate combines deep knowledge of processor and memory architecture with hands-on system-level validation experience and the ability to drive partner engagements to resolution. This role is located in San Carlos or Seattle.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead RAS validation strategy and execution for GPU server platforms, including fault injection, detection coverage, and recovery verification.
• Partner directly with GPU system designers to analyze hardware failures, review silicon errata, and align on fault handling requirements for DDR, HBM, CPU, and GPU subsystems.
• Characterize fault propagation paths from hardware detection through firmware and OS layers, and validate that error signals are correctly classified, logged, and acted upon.
• Validate BMC and out-of-band management visibility into hardware health events via IPMI, Redfish, and MCTP/PLDM protocols.
• Debug complex failure modes spanning GPU and CPU architecture, memory subsystems, PCIe/NVLink fabric, and system management firmware.
• Drive root-cause analysis for RAS failures discovered during validation and work with partners to provide input on platform design decisions that affect fault detection and serviceability.
• Define RAS coverage metrics and maintain traceability from hardware fault models to test coverage.
• Collaborate with firmware, software, and platform teams to validate OS-level error handling, ACPI error interfaces (EINJ, BERT,HEST), and runtime error recovery flows.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in hardware validation, platform reliability engineering, or silicon validation on server-class compute systems.
• Deep understanding of CPU and GPU architecture, including memory subsystems (DDR, HBM), cache hierarchies, and interconnect fabrics (PCIe, NVLink, XGMI).
• Strong knowledge of RAS concepts: error detection and correction (ECC), fault containment, error propagation, machine check architecture (MCA/MCI), and recovery mechanisms.
• Hands-on experience with fault injection methodologies at hardware, firmware, and software levels.
• Familiarity with system management interfaces including BMC, IPMI, Redfish, and MCTP/PLDM.
• Experience working directly with silicon vendors or ODM partners on hardware failure analysis and RAS gap closure.
• Strong scripting skills in Python or equivalent for test automation and log analysis.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $150,000 - $225,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off
• 10 paid holidays per calendar year
• Paid parental leave
• Relocation assistance if applicable
• Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

ITAR Requirements

• Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.