SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Varda Space Industries is accelerating commercial space infrastructure development, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable reentry capsules. As Principal Avionics Hardware Development Engineer, you will architect and design flight-critical electrical hardware for satellite buses, reentry vehicles, and customer payloads—including flight computers, power systems, and sensors for navigation and pharmaceutical manufacturing monitoring.
You will define subsystem requirements based on high-level mission and company objectives, design to those requirements, and ensure manufactured systems meet specifications. Beyond hardware design, you will define safe operating criteria and support mission operations teams on risk tradeoffs when operating near system boundaries.
Key responsibilities include PCB-level electronics design across all lifecycle stages (schematic capture, layout, design validation, fabrication, assembly, and manufacturing test). You will distill company objectives into requirements, designs, and developmental milestones. As avionics subject matter expert, you'll provide support to GNC, pharmaceutical, mission operations, and integration teams.
You will actively collaborate with cross-functional teams (flight software, thermal, GNC, structures) to determine system-level impacts of design decisions. You own product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments (thermal, vibration, shock, TVAC, EMI) with support from the Avionics Test team. You will provide direction on system-level integration test plans, perform root cause analysis on test failures, and implement holistic mitigation strategies for flight risks. Additionally, you will mentor junior engineers on projects, challenges, and design methodologies.
Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, with offices and production facilities where vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. The company also maintains offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. Founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov, Varda is backed by world-class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and General Catalyst.
