Spacecraft Avionics System Engineer

Planet • San Francisco, CA

4h • Hybrid

About The Position

As a member of the Spacecraft Engineering team, you will work in a group of dedicated engineers responsible for the design of Planet’s satellites. You will own spacecraft subsystems end-to-end definition, specification and validation. Spacecraft subsystems can include any of power, payload data processing, command and control radios, high speed downlink radios and general avionics. This role will appeal to candidates who enjoy designing, developing, and the operations of systems in a dynamic environment. This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to be in our San Francisco HQ 3 days per week.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in spacecraft avionics systems design and/or operation.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field of study.
• Experience designing on-board software and hardware for spacecraft.
• Ability to dig deep and drive anomaly investigation in a structured way to reach root cause identification.
• Experience in defining end-to-end validation test plans, and executing them.
• Experience reviewing embedded application software code, and electrical schematics.
• Fluency in Python or other scripting languages to control/automate test facility
• Data analysis skills to process large amounts of telemetry data and extract insights on spacecraft subsystem performance.
• Experience leveraging generative AI tools to accelerate development of test software, data analysis tools.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in a relevant field of study.
• Experience with design and operation of earth observation satellites.
• Deep understanding of the full spacecraft lifecycle, from design and development through on-orbit operations and anomaly resolution.
• Willingness and ability to take on some development tasks as needed.
• A proactive and analytical approach to problem-solving, with a successful track record of leading anomaly investigations to successful root cause identification and resolution.

Responsibilities

• Architecture definition of spacecraft subsystems, including hardware and software partitioning and specification.
• Oversight of hardware and software development.
• End-to-end validation testing of spacecraft subsystems, including but not limited to hardware in the loop tests.
• Anomaly response, troubleshooting and root cause analysis for on-orbit spacecraft.
• Spacecraft subsystem performance analysis from in-orbit data.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution
• Generous Paid Time Off in addition to holidays and company-wide days off
• 16 Weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Wellness Program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Home Office Reimbursement
• Monthly Phone and Internet Reimbursement
• Tuition Reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning
• Equity
• Commuter Benefits (if local to an office)
• Volunteering Paid Time Off

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level