Lab Technician

Karman+ is building the first logistics chain in space for the regolith age. Today everything we use in orbit — fuel, water, materials — is launched from Earth, which keeps every mission slow, expensive and small. Asteroids already hold those resources in orbit. We build the spacecraft and systems to go get them.

Our first mission launches in 2028 to rendezvous with the asteroid Apophis — a deep-space mission designed, built and tested by our team in Broomfield, Colorado, on a startup timeline and budget. We develop most of our own hardware, from power and propulsion electronics to RF systems and payloads, and we test it in our own facilities.

The role

Spacecraft get designed by engineers, but they get built by the person who makes sure the chamber is ready, the parts are on the shelf, the cleanroom is clean and the shipment cleared customs. That’s this job. You keep the lab, the test facilities and the flow of hardware running so the engineering team can spend its time engineering. It is hands-on, varied, and visible: when the thermal-vacuum campaign starts on Monday, it’s because you made Friday happen.

Requirements

• Day to day you will
• Run the test facilities. Prepare and operate the thermal-vacuum chamber, vibration table and cleanroom alongside the responsible engineers; keep ground-support equipment, fixtures, cabling and instrumentation ready; manage calibration schedules; keep test logs and procedures current.
• Keep the building working. Utilities, compressed gas and vacuum supply, cleanroom and ESD controls, tools and consumables, safety equipment, access control, vendor and contractor coordination, and the small fit-out projects that come with a growing lab.
• Move the hardware. Receiving and inspection, inventory and kitting of flight and test parts, storage with the right traceability, packing and shipping — including the paperwork for export-controlled and hazardous items such as pressurised vessels.
• Hold the line on safety and cleanliness. Pressure-system, high-voltage, chemical and cleanroom protocols; PPE; incident reporting; keeping the place in a state where a visiting customer or auditor wouldn’t make us nervous.
• Make things run smoother. Spot the recurring friction — the missing fixture, the part that’s always late, the procedure nobody can find — and fix it.
• You’ll fit if you have
• Hands-on experience in a lab, test facility, workshop, or production floor — aerospace, electronics, automotive, scientific instruments, or military service all translate well.
• Comfort around vacuum systems, pressurised gas, electrical equipment and precision hardware, and the discipline to follow and improve procedures.
• Organisation: you keep inventory, logs and schedules accurate without being asked.
• The ability to work alongside engineers as a peer — asking what they need, telling them what’s not going to work, and not waiting to be told.
• A practical, fix-it attitude and the judgement to know when to stop and ask.
• Nice to have
• Cleanroom or ESD-controlled environment experience
• Forklift, crane or rigging certification
• Hazmat or IATA shipping training
• Familiarity with inventory or ERP tools
• Experience supporting environmental test campaigns
• Required
• US work authorization