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Salary: USD 195,000 - 250,000 / annual
AscendArc, a venture-backed aerospace startup, is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer to lead the avionics and Command & Data Handling (C&DH) subsystem for a revolutionary satellite communications system. This is a ground-floor opportunity to architect critical spacecraft systems from concept through flight.
You will lead the avionics and C&DH engineering efforts, owning subsystem architecture, requirements, and interface control. Responsibilities include designing in-house electronics (topology, component selection, schematics, circuit analysis), performing worst-case and derating analysis for a 15-year GEO mission, and supporting PCB layout, board bring-up, debugging, and testing. You will manage technical procurement of externally sourced units, including specifications, SOWs, technical evaluations, supplier design reviews, and acceptance data. You will partner closely with Flight Software, Systems Engineering, Power, Battery, and other Electrical Engineering leads, and own hardware interfaces across power, grounding, bonding, protection, harness, and spacecraft-level integration.
The role requires working within the Systems Engineering baseline while owning avionics architecture decisions and making buy-vs-build determinations for the subsystem.
REQUIREMENTS:
- B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering or related discipline
- 8+ years of experience, including spacecraft or other high-reliability avionics
- Hands-on board design experience: circuits from requirements through schematic, analysis, bring-up, and test; ability to demonstrate designed work
- Subsystem-level engineering: architecture definition, requirements flow-down, interface control, and resource budgets
- Command and data handling expertise: on-board computing, telemetry and command architecture, data bus topology, discrete/analog/serial signal accommodation
- EEE parts selection and derating for space or high-reliability domain
- Experience specifying and technically managing procured electronics units, including supplier design reviews
- Comfort across electrical, software, and systems boundaries; ability to reach agreement with subsystem leads
- Strong plus: GEO communications satellites, FPGA or firmware familiarity, ECSS or equivalent space standards
- U.S. person status required (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or refugee/asylee status); no temporary work visas
