Senior Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer

Varda Space•El Segundo, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Varda is hiring a Senior Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer to design and deliver flight-critical electrical hardware for its satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and customer payloads. The engineer owns hardware from schematic capture through flight qualification, defining subsystem requirements from mission and company objectives, designing to those requirements, and ensuring manufactured systems meet them. The role also defines safe operating criteria and supports mission operations in assessing risks when hardware is operated near those limits. The engineer will design PCB-level electronics throughout the lifecycle, contribute to avionics architecture and device-selection decisions, and serve as a subject matter expert for spacecraft and payload hardware. The role works closely with flight software, thermal, GNC, structures, mission operations, pharmaceutical, and integration teams. It includes ownership of acceptance and qualification testing for space environments, support for vehicle-level integration test planning, failure analysis and risk mitigation, and mentoring junior engineers. The position is on-site in El Segundo, California. The stated annual salary range is $140,333–$202,703. Long-term incentives may include stock options and/or long-term cash awards. Because the role provides access to export-controlled items, Varda's policy is to hire U.S. persons permitted to access the technology without an export license.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
At least 5 years of direct experience designing electronics hardware—including schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, and environmental qualification—for aerospace, automotive, or other high-reliability industries.
Demonstrated experience contributing to complex electronics systems from design through production or deployment.
Advanced PCB design expertise and knowledge of high-speed signal integrity, power and grounding, and electromagnetic compatibility.
Experience taking complex PCB designs through fabrication and assembly.
Expertise with Altium and/or KiCad EDA suites.
Strong hands-on experience with electronic test equipment, including oscilloscopes, function generators, benchtop digital multimeters, and power supplies.
Experience programming in Python, MATLAB, or another scripting or data-analysis language.
Demonstrated experience implementing hardware layers for multiple onboard and over-harness communication protocols, such as SPI, RS-422, and 1000BASE-T.
Experience designing analog and digital filtering and mixed-signal circuits.
Power electronics design experience, including load switches and switch-mode DC:DC converters.
Must qualify as a U.S. person permitted to access the company's export-controlled technology without an export license.

Nice To Haves

Industry-leading electronic circuit design and analysis skills.
Strong general knowledge of physics, mathematics, and chemistry fundamentals relevant to designing electronics for unique environments.
Understanding of aerospace sensor and actuator technologies, including RTDs, pressure transducers, brushless motors, solenoid valves, thermocouples, stepper motors, and rotary or linear encoders.

Responsibilities

Design PCB-level electronics through all lifecycle stages, including schematic capture, layout, design validation, fabrication and assembly, and manufacturing test.
Support avionics architecture trade studies, analyses, performance characterization and specification, device selection, and roadmap direction.
Serve as an avionics subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload hardware.
Support teams that use the hardware, including GNC, pharmaceutical, mission operations, and integration teams.
Collaborate with flight software, thermal, GNC, structures, and other cross-functional teams to assess vehicle-level impacts of design decisions.
Own product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments, including thermal, vibration, shock, TVAC, and EMI testing, with support from the Avionics Test team.
Provide direction on system-level integration test plans to verify hardware performance at the vehicle level.
Perform root cause analysis on test failures and implement holistic strategies to mitigate flight risks.
Mentor junior engineers on projects, challenges, and design methodologies.