El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
About Rainmaker Rainmaker is pioneering a modern cloud-seeding system to increase precipitation, improve water availability, and address severe-weather challenges. We combine atmospheric science, weather-resistant UAS, r…
Skills: Instrumentation engineering, Hardware development, Systems engineering, Optical engineering, Aerospace engineering
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$79k–$134k/yr
ATLO (Assembly, Test, & Launch Operations) Engineer - Millennium Space Systems Company: Millennium Space Systems Millennium Space Systems, a part of Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS), is a fast, agile small satell…
Skills: Spacecraft assembly, Electrical verification, Mechanical integration, Test scripts, Python
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$100k–$140k/yr
The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development ce…
Skills: RF measurement, Semiconductor characterization, Accelerated life testing, Failure analysis, S-parameter analysis
El Segundo, California, United States · Remote OK
$143k–$165k/yr
Company Overview ImmunityBio is a vertically integrated commercial stage biotechnology company developing next-generation therapies that bolster the natural immune system to defeat cancers and infectious diseases. The Co…
Skills: Clinical trial management, Protocol interpretation, Safety compliance, Regulatory documentation, Site recruitment
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
About Rainmaker Rainmaker is pioneering a modern cloud-seeding system to increase precipitation, improve water availability, and address severe-weather challenges. We combine atmospheric science, weather-resistant UAS, r…
Skills: Machine learning, Python, PyTorch, JAX, Data assimilation
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$90k–$140k/yr
The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development ce…
Skills: Network modeling, Network simulation, Python, C++, C
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, Inc.El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$18/hr–$41/hr
RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes CLEARANCE TYPE: SAP TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the TimeDescription At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities…
Skills: Survivability engineering, Electromagnetic modeling, Radio frequency testing, Infrared signature analysis, Acoustic spectrum analysis
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
About Rainmaker Rainmaker is pioneering a modern cloud-seeding system to increase precipitation, improve water availability, and address severe-weather challenges. We combine atmospheric science, weather-resistant UAS, r…
Skills: Python, Radar meteorology, Atmospheric science, Signal processing, Remote sensing
Kite PharmaEl Segundo, California, United States · Hybrid
$19/hr–$55/hr
We’re here for one reason and one reason only – to cure cancer. Every moment is dedicated to developing treatments and every action moves us one step closer to our goal. We’ve made incredible scientific breakthroughs and…
Skills: Clinical data management, Data analysis, Metrics reporting, Dashboard development, Problem-solving
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$120k–$153k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Aerospace engineering, Manufacturing engineering, Quality assurance, Failure analysis, Hardware testing
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$120k–$153k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Aerospace engineering, Hardware testing, Failure analysis, Quality assurance, Manufacturing processes
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$140k–$179k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Hardware reliability, Failure analysis, Manufacturing processes, Quality control, Test planning
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$120k–$153k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: PLC programming, Beckhoff TwinCAT 3, EtherCAT, Test automation, Electrical design
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$120k–$153k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Avionics systems design, Electrical architecture, Python, System integration, Hardware in the loop (HITL)
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$140k–$179k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Avionics systems, System design, Test planning, Validation, Python
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$120k–$153k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Avionics systems design, System integration, Python, Hardware-in-the-loop (HITL), Electrical architecture
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$140k–$179k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Automation, Controls engineering, PLC, Beckhoff TwinCAT 3, EtherCAT
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$120k–$179k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Composite Fabrication, DFM, GD&T, Tooling Design, Root Cause Corrective Action
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
$120k–$179k/yr
About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-S…
Skills: Thermal protection systems, Ablative material processing, Composite materials, Adhesive bonding, Surface preparation
El Segundo, California, United States · On-site
Rainmaker is pioneering a modern cloud seeding system to solve water scarcity and inclement weather problems. We develop and incorporate radar validation, weather-resistant UAS, numerical weather modeling, and sustainabl…
Skills: Mechanical Engineering, Technical Leadership, Hardware Development, UAS, Radar Validation
El Segundo, California, United States • On-site
Sign up with Clera and we'll reach out the moment a role actually fits you — no more spraying applications into the void.
You will own the end-to-end development of atmospheric sensing hardware, from scientific requirements through to production transition and flight validation. This involves leading technical decisions, managing hardware integration, and establishing a long-term instrumentation roadmap for cloud-seeding operations.
Candidates must have a degree in engineering or physics and a proven record of delivering complex scientific hardware from concept to operation. Strong hands-on experience in multidisciplinary hardware integration and the ability to work under aerospace environmental constraints are essential.
Rainmaker is pioneering a modern cloud-seeding system to increase precipitation, improve water availability, and address severe-weather challenges. We combine atmospheric science, weather-resistant UAS, radar and satellite observations, numerical weather prediction, novel sensing systems, and sustainable seeding technologies to design, operate, and evaluate precipitation-enhancement programs.
Research and engineering at Rainmaker are attached directly to operations. We build instruments, models, aircraft, and decision systems that are tested in the atmosphere and improved with every deployment.
Rainmaker is hiring a Lead Instrumentation Engineer to own the technical development of our atmospheric sensing hardware. You will translate scientific measurement needs into instruments that can survive flight, produce calibrated data, and become reliable parts of Rainmaker's operational system.
Your first mission is concrete: deliver a new airborne cloud-particle imaging instrument for integration on a Rainmaker UAS. Within your first nine months, the instrument must successfully fly and produce in-cloud measurements of particle size distribution, phase, and concentration that can be validated against reference instrumentation. You will then lead its transition into a production-ready system for the following cloud-seeding season.
This is a technical leadership role, not primarily a people-management role. You will personally make engineering decisions, build and test hardware, and solve integration problems while assembling the internal, external, and vendor support required to deliver the system.
Own instrument delivery from scientific requirement through architecture, detailed design, fabrication, integration, calibration, flight testing, validation, and production transition.
Establish the instrument's system requirements, interfaces, performance budget, verification plan, schedule, and technical risks.
Make and document critical tradeoffs across optical performance, sampling volume, spatial resolution, size, weight, power, thermal behavior, vibration, environmental exposure, compute, data rate, and manufacturability.
Coordinate electrical, embedded, data-acquisition, reconstruction-software, UAS-integration, atmospheric-science, manufacturing, and field-validation work.
Identify missing capabilities and determine whether they should be supplied by dedicated hires, existing Rainmaker engineers, contractors, advisors, vendors, or research partners.
Design calibration and validation campaigns, including comparison against commercial cloud-particle and icing instruments.
Lead flight integration and resolve issues discovered in laboratory, ground, and in-cloud testing.
Define production acceptance tests, calibration procedures, maintenance requirements, field documentation, and configuration control.
Develop Rainmaker's longer-term atmospheric-instrumentation roadmap based on which measurements would most improve forecasting, targeting, intervention analysis, and scientific understanding.
A degree in electrical engineering, optical engineering, aerospace engineering, physics, or a related field, or equivalent evidence of exceptional instrument-development ability.
A record of delivering complex sensing or scientific hardware from ambiguous requirements to validated operation.
Deep hands-on strength in at least one relevant discipline, paired with enough systems judgment to integrate optics, mechanics, electronics, embedded control, software, and data products.
Experience setting requirements, interfaces, error or performance budgets, verification methods, and test plans for multidisciplinary hardware.
Strong mechanical and electrical intuition and willingness to build, assemble, debug, and test hardware personally.
Experience making hardware work outside the laboratory under real thermal, vibration, contamination, alignment, power, and communications constraints.
Ability to distinguish a scientifically interesting prototype from a calibrated and supportable operational instrument.
Strong written and verbal communication across scientists, engineers, operators, manufacturers, and external partners.
High agency and comfort establishing direction without a mature instrumentation organization or predetermined roadmap.
Experience developing airborne, UAS-borne, atmospheric, remote-sensing, particle-imaging, optical, lidar, radar, or other scientific instruments.
Experience with digital holography, high-speed imaging, lasers, cloud-particle probes, aerosol instruments, or optical particle characterization.
Familiarity with atmospheric measurements, cloud microphysics, calibration, measurement uncertainty, or field campaigns.
Experience designing within aerospace size, weight, power, vibration, thermal, and environmental constraints.
Experience transitioning low-volume scientific hardware into repeatable production and field support.
Familiarity with scientific Python, data acquisition, embedded systems, signal processing, or reconstruction pipelines.
Experience selecting and managing specialized vendors or contract manufacturers.
Within your first 90 days, you will have established a credible system architecture, validation plan, program schedule, and resourcing plan for the instrument while retiring the highest-risk technical unknowns through hands-on testing.
Within your first nine months, Rainmaker will have successfully flown the prototype on a Rainmaker UAS and validated its in-cloud measurements against reference instrumentation.
For the following cloud-seeding season, Rainmaker will have a production-ready instrument with documented calibration, acceptance testing, integration, maintenance, data-processing, and field-support procedures.
Beyond the first instrument, you will have established a disciplined instrument-development capability and a prioritized roadmap for the atmospheric measurements Rainmaker should own.
Significant stock options with high potential upside as an early-stage company
401(k) with employer matching
Full health coverage (medical, dental, and vision insurance)
Relocation assistance provided (if applicable)
Unlimited PTO
Paid parental leave for both parents
Lunch provided when working in-office and a fully stocked kitchenette
Free EV charging at the HQ
Next-gen cloud seeding for farms, ecosystems, and communities. Water to the people.
Rainmaker is ending water scarcity with next-generation cloud seeding.
Offices: El Segundo, CA, US
Based on 571 listings with disclosed salaries, most science & research jobs in El Segundo, CA pay between $99k–$225k per year. Individual offers vary with seniority, company size, and specialization.
There are currently 628 open science & research positions in El Segundo, CA listed on Clera. New openings are added daily as companies post roles.
Companies currently hiring include The Aerospace Corporation, Boeing, Varda Space Industries, Northrop Grumman, Radiant, among others. Browse the listings above to see every active employer.
Yes — 71 of the 628 open science & research positions offer remote or hybrid work (15 remote, 56 hybrid).
Each listing links directly to the employer's application page. Apply early — fresh listings get the most recruiter attention in the first two weeks.
