Director of Avionics Verified today

The Role

Outpost is an orbital logistics company building reusable Earth-return vehicles. The CarryAll vehicle family returns payloads from 200 kilograms to 10 metric tons, lands within 10 meters of target, and refurbishes for repeated launches.

The Avionics team designs, tests, and produces electronic systems for these vehicles and ground support equipment. You will collaborate across engineering domains and own avionics subsystems end-to-end, from architecture and requirements definition through design, test, integration, and flight support.

Responsibilities

• Capture vehicle avionics requirements.
• Evaluate new EEE components, system architectures, and hardware designs.
• Prototype new avionics hardware.
• Own development of flight hardware, ground hardware, and test hardware.
• Interface directly with external vendors.
• Manage a small team including flight software, embedded software, and avionics design engineering.
• Define avionics design, manufacturing, test, and conops procedures.
• Interface with leadership for project management, budgeting, hiring, and scheduling.

Required Experience

• 4+ years designing and building electrical hardware for high-reliability applications such as aerospace, defense, or automotive.
• First principles knowledge of electrical engineering.
• Experience with PCB/PCBA design, manufacturing, bring-up and test.
• Experience with embedded software development.
• Working knowledge of qualification and acceptance testing practices.
• Working knowledge of component derating, fault tolerance, and reliability engineering.

Preferred Experience

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, or related field.
• Familiarity with C/C++, Python, and AI coding practices.
• Schematic capture and PCB layout experience.
• EEE component radiation testing experience.
• Power electronics design experience.
• RF hardware design experience.

Compensation

• Base salary: $250,000 to $300,000 commensurate with experience.
• Annual performance-based bonuses.
• Meaningful equity in Outpost.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Company-provided short- and long-term disability coverage and life insurance.
• Paid time off plus 9 paid holidays.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Daily DoorDash lunch stipend, unlimited snacks, coffee, and tea.
• Pet-friendly office.
• Monthly company happy hours and events.

Location and Requirements

Playa Vista, California. In-person, five days per week.

You must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15, or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.