Avionics Engineer

wardstone.space•El Segundo, CA

18h

About The Position

Wardstone is seeking a hands-on Avionics Engineer to own the electronics on its interceptors, from board-level design and power systems through sensor integration, wiring harnesses, and the electrical interface to the launcher. The engineer will design, build, and debug hardware and take it through qualification to flight. The role involves close collaboration with the founders and with seeker, GNC, embedded software, propulsion, and mechanical engineers. The hardware will fly and intercept targets. The engineer will define avionics architecture; design, simulate, and lay out PCBs; select components; and handle schematic capture, design for manufacturing, and vendor work. The role also covers power systems, sensor and actuator integration, harsh-environment design and qualification, hardware bring-up and vehicle integration, and end-to-end requirements, testing, and documentation.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
At least 2 years designing and fielding electronics hardware, including at least one system taken from design through test; student rocketry or similar project teams count.
Strong PCB design experience with Altium, KiCad, or similar, including mixed-signal and power electronics.
Strong fundamentals in circuit analysis, signal integrity, noise, grounding, and EMI/EMC.
Experience integrating sensors, actuators, and power systems.
Hands-on prototyping skills, including soldering, rework, bring-up, and debugging.
Comfort with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and other lab equipment.
Must be a U.S. person as defined by ITAR (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual).
Must be eligible to obtain a U.S. security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Experience with avionics for missiles, rockets, UAVs, or other high-speed flight vehicles.
Experience with high-G electronics design and qualification.
Experience with wiring harness design or launcher and vehicle electrical interfaces.
Experience with high-speed digital buses or RF systems.
Embedded firmware experience in C/C++ or RTOS.
Experience with motor drives or actuator control.
Experience with MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-810, or similar flight hardware standards.
Prior early-stage startup experience.

Responsibilities

Define avionics architecture, including the flight computer, power distribution, and data buses.
Design, simulate, and lay out PCBs for computing, sensing, actuation, and power.
Own schematic capture, PCB layout, component selection, design for manufacturing, and vendor work.
Develop power systems, including DC–DC conversion, batteries, protection circuits, and transient management.
Integrate the seeker, IMUs, GNSS, and electromechanical actuators.
Design signal-conditioning circuits and low-latency sensor and actuator interfaces for flight software and the autopilot.
Design wiring harnesses with the mechanical team and develop the electrical interface to the launcher.
Design electronics to withstand high-G launch, vibration, shock, and thermal extremes, collaborating with the mechanical team on packaging and analysis.
Lead electrical qualification testing, including EMI/EMC, vibration, thermal, and high-G testing.
Work with embedded software engineers on processor selection, drivers, and the hardware-firmware interface.
Bring up, debug, and iterate hardware in the lab using scopes, logic analyzers, and DAQs.
Support vehicle integration, ground testing, and flight test.
Write requirements, test plans, and documentation.
Take hardware from concept through prototype and testing to flight-ready.