Chief Engineer - Electrical Engineering

Firefly Aerospace•Cedar Park, TX

20d

About The Position

The Electrical Engineering Chief Engineer provides technical leadership for the design, development, integration, and verification of spaceborne electrical and avionics systems. The role serves as the technical authority for spacecraft electrical architectures across multiple space programs, defining component- and system-level requirements, guiding multidisciplinary teams, maintaining design integrity through the lifecycle, and interfacing with internal leadership to meet mission and business objectives. This hands-on technical leadership role also directs technology development, including research into emerging technologies, prototyping, generating basic software and firmware for proof-of-concept work, and overseeing product design teams as concepts are developed into flight-qualified hardware. The Chief Engineer works closely with the Director of Electrical Engineering, technical leads, Systems Engineering, and Program Management to deliver robust, flight-ready electrical systems.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related field.
15+ years of progressive experience in electrical or avionics engineering for complex aerospace systems, such as launch vehicles and/or spacecraft, including significant technical leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience as a technical authority or chief/lead engineer on flight hardware programs, owning architecture and design integrity through development, integration, test, and flight.
Strong technical depth in spacecraft or launch vehicle power systems, avionics/data handling—including buses such as SpaceWire, CAN, MIL-STD-1553, and Ethernet—harnessing, and related disciplines.
Proven experience with EEE parts selection and derating, radiation effects (TID, SEE) and mitigation, requirements management, and space environmental qualification.
Track record leading multidisciplinary teams, conducting trade studies, resolving complex technical issues, and balancing technical performance with cost and schedule constraints.
Experience taking designs from concept through high TRL or flight qualification, including PCB assemblies, firmware, and system-level integration and test.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare and present complex technical material to engineering teams, leadership, and external customers.
Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and collaborate across multiple engineering disciplines.
Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations under applicable U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including ITAR.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or Ph.D.
Direct experience with modular avionics architectures and design-for-reuse across multiple vehicle platforms.
Hands-on background in board-level design, FPGA/ASIC development, or harness design and analysis.
Experience supporting on-orbit operations, anomaly resolution, and post-flight analysis.
Familiarity with configuration management, requirements management tools, and technical baseline control in a flight hardware environment.
Prior experience providing technical content for proposals and supporting new business capture.
Knowledge of relevant industry standards, such as MIL-STD, ECSS, NASA, or equivalent, and best practices for space electrical systems.
Ability and willingness to obtain a security clearance if required.

Responsibilities

Own the technical baseline and architectural direction for electrical and avionics systems across hardware, firmware, harnessing, launch vehicle systems, and spacecraft systems.
Define and own spacecraft and launch vehicle electrical architectures, including power generation, distribution and storage, command and data handling, communication interfaces, and harnessing.
Establish, maintain, and enforce electrical engineering design standards, processes, and best practices.
Lead development, allocation, and management of system and subsystem electrical requirements, ensuring traceability, verification, and validation.
Lead and chair major design reviews, including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and FRR, and technical risk assessments; sign off on design maturity and readiness.
Drive common modular architecture efforts to maximize reuse and commonality across launch vehicles and spacecraft.
Provide technical direction and oversight to electrical, power, avionics, FPGA/ASIC, firmware, and harness teams; review and approve key design artifacts, analyses, schematics, ICDs, power budgets, and test plans.
Lead trade studies covering power architectures, redundancy, component selection, radiation tolerance, derating, and thermal/electrical interfaces to optimize performance, cost, schedule, and risk.
Ensure compliance with space environmental requirements, including radiation, EMI/EMC, thermal, vacuum, and launch loads; guide EEE parts selection, qualification, and derating.
Define and guide integration and test strategies, including functional testing, hardware-in-the-loop, environmental qualification, and system-level verification.
Support failure analysis, anomaly resolution, and root-cause and corrective-action activities during development, integration, test, and on-orbit operations.
Collaborate with Systems Engineering, Mechanical, Software, RF, GNC, Mission Assurance, and other disciplines to develop balanced, integrated vehicle designs.
Support department management with product and technology roadmaps, IRAD direction, proposal technical volumes, BOEs, risk assessments, and new business capture.
Mentor and develop engineers at all levels, promoting rigorous engineering practices and technical excellence.
Continuously improve internal processes, tools, analysis methods, and design-for-manufacturing and design-for-test practices.