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Salary: USD 200,000 - 250,000 / annual
Cowboy Space Corp is building orbital infrastructure to power and connect the space economy. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood co-founder) and backed by leading investors, the company operates satellites in Low Earth Orbit to collect sunlight and enable new capabilities—from powering on-orbit compute to transmitting energy via infrared lasers and delivering secure, high-bandwidth optical data.
As Head of Avionics, you will lead the design, development, and integration of avionics systems across the spacecraft platform. This is a critical leadership role with significant ownership over system architecture, team building, and execution.
Key responsibilities include:
- Define technical vision and roadmap for avionics across spacecraft platforms
- Own system architecture across avionics, hardware interfaces, and system integration
- Lead design and development of avionics systems, peripheral interfaces, EMI/EMC, embedded architecture, and rapid integrated testing infrastructure
- Build and lead a team of avionics engineers, setting technical direction and development standards
- Drive end-to-end development from concept through design, integration, validation, and flight readiness
- Collaborate cross-functionally with other spacecraft teams to ensure seamless system integration
- Establish testing, validation, and qualification strategies including hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and simulation environments
- Optimize systems for performance within constraints of power, thermal, and radiation environments
- Guide component selection, vendor partnerships, and manufacturing processes
- Participate in system-level trade studies and design reviews (PDR, CDR)
Required qualifications: 10+ years avionics engineering experience; Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field; proven experience designing and shipping embedded or avionics systems in production; strong background in RTOS, microcontrollers, SoCs, FPGA-based systems, or hardware/software integration; experience leading technical projects or engineering teams; strong understanding of system architecture and embedded system design principles.
Preferred: spacecraft or mission-critical avionics/embedded systems experience; deep understanding of radiation effects (SEE, TID) and mitigation strategies; experience with aggressive SWaP constraints; hands-on hardware bring-up and debugging; telemetry, command, and data handling (C&DH) systems experience; HITL, simulation, and automated test systems; deterministic real-time performance in safety-critical environments; end-to-end system ownership; high-performing team leadership; integrated flight systems experience.
