Senior Autonomous Flight Termination System Hardware Engineer

Castelion Corporation•Torrance, NM

About The Position

Castelion is seeking a Senior Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) Hardware Engineer to design and deliver high-reliability flight-safety electronics for long-range hypersonic strike vehicles. The role focuses on enabling safe, deterministic vehicle termination through robust, fault-tolerant hardware. The engineer will work hands-on with multidisciplinary teams to design, build, test, and validate pulsed-power electronics and firing systems, particularly electronic safe and arm devices (ESADs) and related architectures. The position operates in a fast-paced, hardware-driven environment and includes integrating AFTS hardware with vehicle systems, supporting test campaigns, and helping ensure compliance with safety, range, and mission-assurance requirements. The position may require access to classified information or restricted U.S. Government sites, systems, or information. If designated, employment may depend on obtaining and maintaining the required security clearance or other government authorization and meeting applicable eligibility requirements. The position also requires access to export-controlled information, so employment is contingent on being able to access applicable information without additional export licensing.

Requirements

Bachelor's, master's, or PhD in Electrical Engineering or a related field.
At least 5 years of experience designing and validating pulsed-power, high-voltage, or firing-system electronics for aerospace, defense, or similar high-reliability applications.
Strong background in energy storage, high-speed/high-current switching, and pulsed-power circuit design.
Experience with electronic safe and arm devices (ESADs), initiation systems, or similar safety-critical hardware.
Proficiency with circuit-design, simulation, and analysis tools such as SPICE or MATLAB/Simulink, or equivalent.
Experience with hardware bring-up, environmental testing, and troubleshooting in a laboratory or flight-hardware environment.
Familiarity with system safety, redundancy, and fault-tolerant design principles for mission-critical systems.
Experience designing for EMI/EMC, thermal performance, and operation in extreme environments.
Ability to access applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing.
If the position is designated as requiring it, ability to obtain and maintain the required U.S. Government security clearance or other government authorization and meet applicable citizenship or other eligibility requirements.

Responsibilities

Design and develop pulsed-power electronics for flight termination and firing systems, including high-voltage energy storage, switching, and delivery circuits.
Lead the architecture and implementation of electronic safe and arm devices (ESADs) and related safety-critical hardware.
Develop initiation and firing circuits designed for deterministic performance, redundancy, and fault tolerance.
Collaborate with avionics, GNC, flight software, and systems engineering teams to integrate AFTS hardware with vehicle systems.
Perform circuit-level and system-level modeling and analysis to validate performance, timing, and reliability under dynamic flight conditions.
Define and execute qualification, environmental, and flight test plans, and translate results into system-level improvements.
Support hardware bring-up, integration, and test campaigns, including debugging, failure analysis, and root-cause investigation.
Ensure compliance with safety, range, and mission-assurance requirements for flight termination systems.
Mentor junior engineers and contribute to best practices in high-reliability pulsed-power and safety-critical electronics design.
Partner with program leadership on technical trades aligned with mission success.