Avionics Engineer at Phenix Space

Cox Exponential•San Francisco, CA

12d

About The Position

Phenix Space is hiring a hands-on electrical engineer to own avionics hardware from architecture through schematic design, layout, bring-up, integration, and flight. The role works directly with electronics, robotics, software, and GNC engineers to develop upgradeable robotic systems and standard interfaces for changing and servicing systems in orbit. The engineer will develop avionics across the full hardware lifecycle, taking prototypes to robust, scalable, space-ready hardware. Work includes flight-computer and power architecture, safety systems, actuator and sensor electronics, and interface electronics for power and high-speed data through connectors that mate and demate on orbit. The role also includes embedded firmware for bring-up and testing, board prototyping, integration, and environmental and reliability testing. The engineer will work with suppliers and manufacturing partners to source high-reliability components and deliver flight-ready hardware. Phenix Space states that the work is expected to fly to space within the employee’s first year and that the engineer will set avionics architecture used for years. The position offers broad ownership across hardware, software, and testing, with room to grow into a technical leadership role.

Requirements

B.S., M.S., PhD in electrical engineering, mechatronics, computer engineering, or aerospace engineering, or equivalent experience.
5+ years owning electrical or avionics hardware through its full lifecycle in spacecraft, robotics, automotive, defense, or a similar field.
Experience with schematic capture and PCB design and review for complex digital, mixed-signal, and power boards.
Hands-on board bring-up experience, including flashing firmware and debugging at the bench with oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.
Enough embedded C/C++ experience to write bring-up and test firmware, plus Python experience.
Experience with low-level buses such as EtherCAT, CAN, SPI, I2C, and UART.
Familiarity with actuation, including motors, drives, and related electronics.
Ability to make and explain hardware trade-offs involving performance, power, mass, radiation tolerance, cost, and schedule.
U.S. person status, required for export control (ITAR/EAR).

Nice To Haves

Deep embedded experience, including real-time firmware, drivers, and hardware abstraction layers.
Flight hardware that has launched, satellite bus integration, or in-space robotics experience.
Radiation-tolerant design experience, including shielding, radiation-hardened processors and parts, and testing for extreme environments.
Experience with motors in space, including thermal and radiation considerations.
Experience with electronics for AI compute, including edge accelerators and their power and thermal demands.
FPGA or ASIC design experience.
Thermal analysis of electronics and boards.
Mechanical design for space systems.

Responsibilities

Own avionics hardware through its lifecycle, including architecture, schematic capture, layout review, bring-up, integration, and flight support.
Take hardware designs from early prototypes to robust, scalable, space-ready systems.
Select flight-computer processors, safety microcontrollers, and redundancy based on performance, power, radiation tolerance, cost, and schedule.
Design hardware for LEO, MEO, and GEO environments.
Support actuator and sensor electronics, including motor drives, sensors, cameras, and lidar.
Build safety systems into products.
Develop interface electronics for power and high-speed data through connectors that mate and demate on orbit.
Design power architecture for peak loads, including protection, filtering, battery management, and load management.
Lead avionics architecture decisions and own interfaces with mechanical, robotics, propulsion, and software teams.
Develop some embedded firmware for bring-up and test in coordination with software engineers who own the larger code base.
Work with buses including EtherCAT, CAN-FD, SPI, I2C, and RS-485.
Perform board bring-up at the bench, including drivers, bootloaders, and health monitoring.
Rapidly prototype boards to get new projects started.
Conduct in-house environmental testing for fast design iteration.
Coordinate environmental and reliability testing with test partners, including thermal, vacuum, vibration, and radiation testing, and iterate designs based on results.
Select components for space environments and design for test, reliability, and manufacturing.
Work with vendors and manufacturing partners to source high-reliability electronics, actuators, and sensors and take designs to flight-ready hardware.