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Salary: USD 141,800 - 212,600 / annual
Rocket Lab Robotics, part of Rocket Lab (an end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems), is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer II based in Pasadena, California. The role focuses on developing and testing avionics hardware for robotics programs that support planetary exploration and satellite missions, including hardware that has operated on NASA's Perseverance rover and lunar exploration programs.
You will take end-to-end ownership of electrical hardware for robotics and motor-control applications, driving architecture decisions that advance control algorithms using microcontroller-based systems. Key responsibilities include developing PCBA requirements in collaboration with other engineering disciplines, performing PCBA design verification and system integration testing, and owning environmental testing including EMI/EMC, thermal-vacuum, shock, and vibration testing.
You will perform schematic capture and PCB layout using Altium Designer, provide oversight and mentorship to support engineers, and lead electronic component and parts selection considering electrical performance, reliability, environmental requirements, availability, lifecycle status, lead time, and cost. Additional responsibilities include developing and maintaining engineering bills of material, partnering with planning and supply chain teams on material readiness and procurement, supporting sourcing and supplier selection, driving design for manufacturability and testability, providing production support, and supporting failure analysis and root-cause investigations.
The role requires working collaboratively across multiple engineering disciplines in a fast-paced environment where you take ownership of problems from first principles through manufacturing and delivery.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or another engineering discipline
- 8+ years of electrical hardware design experience
- Ability to develop blank-sheet-of-paper design concepts
- Experience in motor-control applications
- Experience with analog signal chains
- Proficiency performing circuit analyses using SPICE
- Proficiency with board bring-up and debugging
- U.S. citizenship required due to ITAR program requirements
NICE-TO-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience with field-oriented control
- Experience with switch-mode power supplies
- Experience designing electronics for space environments, including radiation impacts and SEU/SEL mitigation
- Experience with environmental testing (thermal-vacuum, shock, vibration)
- Experience with EMI/EMC testing
- Experience with Altium Designer
- Proficiency with PCBA verification and validation
- Experience with parametric, sensitivity, or worst-case analysis
- Demonstrated expertise selecting electronic components and managing performance/reliability/availability/lifecycle/lead-time/cost tradeoffs
- Experience supporting BOM development, material planning, supplier sourcing, and design-for-manufacturability reviews
- Experience with Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
- Experience designing rigid-flex PCBs and working with electromechanical systems
- Experience with system-modeling tools such as Simulink
