Senior Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer

Quick Facts

• Role: Senior Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer

• Focus: Flight-critical electrical hardware for satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and customer payloads

Description

Design and deliver flight-critical spacecraft electrical hardware, owning the hardware domain from schematic capture through flight qualification. Define subsystem requirements from mission and company objectives, design to those requirements, and ensure manufactured systems meet them. Support safe operating criteria, system integration, environmental qualification testing, and risk mitigation near operational bounds.

Responsibilities

• Perform PCB-level electronics design across the lifecycle: schematic capture, layout, design validation, fabrication/assembly, and manufacturing test

• Support avionics architecture trade studies, analyses, performance characterization, device selection, and roadmap direction

• Serve as avionics subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload hardware; support downstream teams using your products

• Collaborate with flight software, thermal, GNC, and structures to assess system impacts of design decisions

• Own product acceptance and space-environment qualification testing (Thermal, Vibe, Shock, TVAC, EMI) with support from the Avionics Test team

• Provide direction on system-level integration test plans to verify vehicle-level performance

• Conduct root cause analysis on test failures and implement mitigation strategies for flight risks

• Mentor junior engineers and set high design methodologies

Requirements

• B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline

• 5+ years designing electronics hardware (schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, environmental qualification) for aerospace or other high-reliability industries

• Experience taking complex electronics systems from design to production/deployment

• Advanced PCB design expertise in high-speed signal integrity, power and grounding, and electromagnetic compatibility

• Experience taking complex PCB designs through fabrication and assembly

• Proficiency with Altium and/or KiCad EDA suites

• Hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, function generators, benchtop digital multimeters, and power supplies

• Programming experience in Python, MATLAB, or similar scripting/data analysis languages

• Hardware-layer experience with communication protocols including SPI, RS-422, and 1000BASE-T

• Experience designing analog/digital filtering and mixed-signal circuits

• Power electronics design experience including load switches and switch mode DC:DC converters

• ITAR compliance: ability to work as a “U.S. person” authorized for export-controlled technologies

Benefits

• Long-term incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards

• Salary range: $140,333 - $202,703 per year (leveling and base salary depend on job-related skills, education, experience, and performance)

• On-site role in El Segundo, CA