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Salary: USD 181,913 - 262,763 / annual
Varda Space Industries is accelerating commercial space infrastructure development, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing, reentry capsules, and satellite buses. The company designs and operates all major subsystems in-house, from flight computers to heat shields.
As Principal Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer, you will architect and design flight-critical electrical hardware for Varda's satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and customer payloads. You will define subsystem requirements based on mission and company objectives, design to those requirements, and ensure manufactured systems meet specifications. You will also define safe operating criteria and support mission operations on risk tradeoffs.
Key responsibilities include:
- PCB-level electronics design across all lifecycle stages: schematic capture, layout, design validation, fabrication, assembly, and manufacturing test
- Contributing to avionics architecture and system design for next-generation vehicles and hardware upgrades
- Defining standards, processes, and procedures for electrical engineering excellence
- Translating high-level company and mission objectives into requirements, designs, and developmental milestones
- Serving as avionics subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload hardware
- Collaborating with cross-functional teams (flight software, thermal, GNC, structures) on system-level impacts
- Owning product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments (thermal, vibration, shock, TVAC, EMI)
- Directing system-level integration test plans
- Performing root cause analysis on test failures and implementing mitigation strategies
- Mentoring junior engineers on projects, challenges, and design methodologies
Varda emphasizes rigorous testing and failure investigation, stressing components beyond expected flight levels.
REQUIREMENTS:
- B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline
- 8+ years of direct experience designing electronics hardware (schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, environmental qualification) for aerospace, automotive, or other high-reliability industries
- 3+ years of experience working directly on hardware for space applications
- Demonstrated experience owning the architecture and implementation of complex electronics systems from design to production/deployment
- Advanced PCB design expertise: high-speed signal integrity, power and grounding, electromagnetic compatibility
- Experience taking complex PCB designs through fabrication and assembly
- Expert user of Altium and/or KiCad EDA suites
- Strong hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, function generators, digital multimeters, power supplies
- Experience programming in Python, MATLAB, or another scripting/data analysis language
- Demonstrated experience implementing hardware layer of on-board and over-harness communication protocols (SPI, RS422, 1000BASE-T)
- Experience designing analog/digital filtering and mixed-signal circuits
- Power electronics design experience including load switches and switch-mode DC:DC converters
- Understanding of aerospace sensor and actuator technologies (RTDs, pressure transducers, brushless motors, solenoid valves, thermocouples, stepper motors, rotary/linear encoders)
PREFERRED:
- Industry-leading electronic circuit design and analysis skills
- Strong supporting knowledge in physics, math, and chemistry fundamentals for designing electronics in unique environments
Note: ITAR requirements apply. Must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)).
