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Salary: USD 119,543 - 152,749 / annual
Varda Space Industries is building commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing systems, reentry capsules, and satellite buses. The Automation and Controls Engineer II designs, builds, and maintains sophisticated ground support equipment (GSE) and test systems that qualify spaceflight hardware for orbit—including propulsion test stands, environmental qualification chambers, and spacecraft-level integration testing.
In this role, you will own test infrastructure end-to-end, from electrical design through commissioning. You'll integrate with a wide range of external hardware including thermal vacuum chambers, ovens, chillers, pressure systems, data acquisition hardware, and precision instrumentation. You'll develop and extend Varda's internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling to support evolving program needs, and contribute to architecture decisions on real-time control implementation, including evaluation of PLC-based (TwinCAT 3) versus Linux-based approaches for high-frequency control applications.
Key responsibilities include designing and building test systems and GSE for flight hardware qualification and manufacturing operations; integrating with industrial hardware over protocols such as EtherCAT, Modbus, and RS-232/485 serial; developing control software and building electrical cabinets; partnering with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams to deliver infrastructure on aggressive timelines; and championing sustainable engineering practices that enable new engineers to ramp quickly and maintain production systems reliably.
Varda is headquartered in El Segundo with additional offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. The company was founded in 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov and is backed by Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and other top-tier investors. The team includes veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies, and Silicon Valley.
**Requirements:**
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related technical field
- 2+ years of industry experience in test automation, controls, and/or industrial automation
- Hands-on experience integrating with industrial hardware over protocols such as EtherCAT, Modbus (TCP/RTU), RS-232/485 serial, or similar communication standards
- Experience with at least one modern PLC ecosystem—ideally Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 with structured text (IEC 61131-3), or demonstrated eagerness to develop deep expertise there
- Comfort working across the full stack: designing electrical panels, wiring cabinets, debugging hardware, and writing control software
- Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment where priorities shift and end-to-end ownership of problems is expected
**Preferred Skills:**
- Strong intuition for when to use real-time PLC code versus higher-level Python orchestration
- Experience working with custom or in-house control frameworks
- Advanced EtherCAT expertise (DC sync, ENI configuration, master implementation, driver-level work)
- Production experience with TwinCAT 3, structured text, and IEC 61131-3 language suite
- Experience designing deterministic, hard real-time control loops with sub-millisecond cycle times
- Familiarity with time-series data acquisition and visualization tools (Grafana, InfluxDB, or similar)
- Aerospace experience, particularly in spacecraft testing or GSE development
- Environmental test experience (TVAC, thermal cycling, vibration testing)
- Hands-on experience with high-pressure gas or fluid systems
- Experience developing propulsion test stands or complex multi-subsystem test infrastructure
- Familiarity with spacecraft qualification standards and documentation requirements
- Experience developing safety-related control systems
