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Star Catcher is building the first energy grid in space to power the orbital economy. The company is developing technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft's existing solar panels, enabling spacecraft to "plug" into an orbital power grid rather than generating all their own power. This role supports the development of space-to-space power beaming spacecraft and the Star Catcher Network orbital infrastructure.
As an Electrical Engineer - Digital Hardware, you will execute digital hardware and high-speed PCB designs following the complete CCA design lifecycle: requirements generation, preliminary design, peer reviews, detailed design, test plan generation, and integration/test. You will design mixed-signal circuit card assemblies incorporating processors, microcontrollers, FPGA/CPLD, and volatile/non-volatile memory (DDRx, SRAM, ROM, Flash). You will support FPGA/SoC board layout, backplane interface implementation, and compute module integration, including high-speed memory interfaces and advanced board technologies such as HDI and back-drilled vias.
You will utilize schematic capture, constraint-driven layout, simulation, and timing analysis tools to generate and verify designs. You will support timing analysis, SI/PI simulation, and worst-case circuit analysis for digital hardware designs, including thermal, EMI/EMC, and component derating considerations. You will participate in board bring-up, debug, and signal/power integrity verification alongside embedded software engineers, using lab instrumentation (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, signal generators, DC power supplies) to troubleshoot at component and board levels. You will assist with component selection and qualification, evaluating component tolerances for design margin. This role requires working independently to generate digital CCA design solutions.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Required: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical discipline. 5+ years of experience in digital hardware design, FPGA-based systems, or high-speed digital PCB design. Experience designing with processors, microcontrollers, FPGA/CPLD, and memory devices (DDRx, SRAM, ROM, Flash). Familiarity with FPGA/SoC platforms and associated design toolchains. Working knowledge of SI/PI simulation and timing analysis tools (e.g., HyperLynx, Ansys, or equivalent).
Desired: Exposure to backplane-based architectures (VPX, SpaceVPX, CompactPCI Serial, or similar). Exposure to radiation-tolerant digital design practices. Familiarity with spacecraft data bus standards (SpaceWire, CCSDS). Experience with Altium Designer or equivalent EDA tools. Exposure to worst-case circuit analysis and part derating practices. Experience with high-speed memory interface design (DDRx) and board technologies such as HDI or back drilling. Exposure to high-speed digital or optical interfaces and protocols (Ethernet, PCIe). MATLAB, Python, or similar programming experience for analysis or test automation.
