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Varda Space Industries is building commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing systems and reentry capsules. The company designs and operates its W-Series vehicles end-to-end, from payloads to heat shields to satellite buses, with headquarters in El Segundo, California.
As a Senior Terrestrial Ground Support Equipment Engineer, you will design, build, and own sophisticated test infrastructure that qualifies spaceflight hardware for orbit. This includes propulsion test stands, environmental qualification chambers, spacecraft-level integration testing, and more. You will work with a modern tech stack featuring a custom PLC framework and Beckhoff EtherCAT tooling built in-house.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design, build, and maintain test systems and GSE for flight hardware qualification and manufacturing operations
- Integrate with external hardware including thermal vacuum chambers, ovens, chillers, pressure systems, data acquisition hardware, and precision instrumentation
- Develop and extend Varda's internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling to support evolving program needs
- Contribute to architecture decisions on real-time control implementation, including PLC-based (TwinCAT 3) versus Linux-based approaches
- Build cabinets, wire panels, and own systems end-to-end from electrical design through commissioning
- Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams to deliver test infrastructure on aggressive timelines
- Champion sustainable engineering practices that enable new engineers to ramp quickly and maintain production systems reliably
You will have meaningful impact on architecture decisions and the chance to define standards that will outlast any single program. The role offers end-to-end ownership in a fast-paced startup environment with experienced leadership from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and major pharmaceutical companies.
