Principal Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer Verified today

About Varda

Varda accelerates commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reentry capsules. The W-Series vehicles, including satellite buses, reentry vehicles, C-PICA heat shields, and pharmaceutical processing payloads, are designed and operated by Varda in-house.

The Role

As Principal Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Engineer, you will architect and design flight-critical electrical hardware for the satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and customer payloads. Examples include flight computers, satellite power systems, and sensors for navigation and pharmaceutical manufacturing monitoring. You will define subsystem requirements based on mission objectives, design to those requirements, and ensure manufactured systems meet them. You will define safe operating criteria and support mission operations on risk tradeoffs near system limits.

Key Responsibilities

• PCB-level electronics design from schematic capture, layout, design validation, fabrication, assembly, and manufacturing test
• Contribute to avionics architecture and system design for next-generation vehicles and hardware upgrades
• Define standards, processes and procedures for electrical engineering at Varda
• Distil high-level mission objectives into requirements, designs, and developmental milestones
• Serve as avionics subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload hardware; support GNC, pharmaceutical, mission operations, and integration teams
• Collaborate with flight software, thermal, GNC, and structures teams on cross-vehicle system impacts
• Own product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments: thermal, vibration, shock, TVAC, and EMI
• Direct system-level integration test plans to verify hardware performance at vehicle level
• Perform root cause analysis on test failures and implement mitigation strategies
• Mentor junior engineers on design methodologies and challenges

Required Experience

• B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline
• 8+ years direct experience designing electronics hardware for aerospace, automotive, or high-reliability industries: schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, environmental qualification
• 3+ years experience working directly on hardware for space applications
• Demonstrated ownership of complex electronics systems architecture and implementation from design to production
• Advanced PCB design expertise: high-speed signal integrity, power and grounding, electromagnetic compatibility
• Experience taking complex PCB designs through fabrication and assembly
• Expert user of Altium and/or KiCad EDA suites
• Strong hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, function generators, digital multimeters, and power supplies
• Programming experience in Python, MATLAB, or equivalent scripting/data analysis language
• Implemented on-board and over-harness communication protocols: SPI, RS422, 1000BASE-T
• Experience designing analog/digital filtering and mixed-signal circuits
• Power electronics design: load switches and switch-mode DC:DC converters
• Understanding of aerospace sensor and actuator technologies: RTDs, pressure transducers, brushless motors, solenoid valves, thermocouples, stepper motors, rotary/linear encoders

Preferred Qualifications

• Industry-leading electronic circuit design and analysis skills
• Strong knowledge in physics, math, and chemistry fundamentals for designing electronics for unique environments

Compensation and Work Location

• Salary: $181,913 to $262,763 per year
• Onsite in El Segundo, California
• Eligible for long-term incentives in stock options and/or long-term cash awards
• Base salary determined by job-related skills, education, experience, and performance

Requirements

US person status required. This role involves access to export-controlled items. US person means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).