Senior Automation & Controls Engineer Verified today
About Varda
Varda is accelerating commercial space infrastructure development, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable reentry capsules. Varda's W-Series vehicles and all major subsystems are designed, built, and operated in-house. The company is headquartered in El Segundo, California with offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.
About This Role
You will design, build, and own sophisticated ground support equipment (GSE) and test systems that qualify spaceflight hardware for orbit. This includes propulsion test stands, environmental qualification chambers, and spacecraft-level integration testing. You will work with a modern stack including custom PLC frameworks and Beckhoff EtherCAT tooling built in-house, and have meaningful impact on architecture decisions and standards that will outlast any single program.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain test systems and GSE for flight hardware qualification and manufacturing operations
- Integrate external hardware including thermal vacuum chambers, ovens, chillers, pressure systems, data acquisition hardware, and precision instrumentation
- Develop and extend Varda's internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling to support evolving program needs
- Contribute to architecture decisions on real-time control implementation, including evaluation of PLC-based (TwinCAT 3) versus Linux-based approaches for high-frequency control applications
- Build cabinets, wire panels, and own systems end-to-end from electrical design through commissioning
- Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams to deliver test infrastructure on aggressive timelines
- Champion sustainable engineering practices that enable new engineers to ramp quickly on the tech stack and maintain production systems reliably
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related technical field
- 5+ years of industry experience in test automation, controls, and/or industrial automation
- Hands-on experience integrating with industrial hardware over protocols such as EtherCAT, Modbus (TCP/RTU), RS-232/485 serial, or similar communication standards
- Experience with at least one modern PLC ecosystem, ideally Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 with structured text (IEC 61131-3), or demonstrated eagerness to develop deep expertise there
- Comfort working across the full stack: designing electrical panels, wiring cabinets, debugging hardware, and writing control software
- Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment where priorities shift and end-to-end ownership of problems is expected
Preferred Skills and Experience
- Strong intuition for when to use real-time PLC code versus higher-level Python orchestration, and understanding of the tradeoff
- Experience working with custom or in-house control frameworks, rather than relying solely on vendor-provided stacks
- Advanced EtherCAT expertise, including DC sync, ENI configuration, master implementation, or driver-level work
- Production experience with TwinCAT 3, structured text, and the broader IEC 61131-3 language suite
- Experience designing deterministic, hard real-time control loops with sub-millisecond cycle times
- Familiarity with time-series data acquisition and visualization tools such as Grafana, InfluxDB, or similar platforms
- Aerospace experience, particularly in spacecraft testing or GSE development
- Environmental test experience, including TVAC, thermal cycling, and vibration testing
- Hands-on experience working with high-pressure gas or fluid systems
- Experience developing propulsion test stands or other complex, multi-subsystem test infrastructure
- Familiarity with spacecraft qualification standards and associated documentation requirements
- Experience developing safety-related control systems and evaluating proposed solutions for reducing safety-related risks
Compensation and Location
- Salary range: $140,333 to $179,314 per year
- On-site in El Segundo, CA
- Stock options and/or long-term cash awards eligible