Avionics Hardware Engineer

PAVE Space SA.; Villeneuve (VD); On-site; CHF 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

PAVE Space SA is delivering the LYOBA heavy kick stage, moving up to 4‑tonne payloads from LEO to high energy orbits in under 24 hours. You will own the flight computer PCB design and lead the avionics hardware strategy as the project advances toward qualification and flight.

The role emphasizes hardware leadership, hands‑on debugging, and validation across flight computers, propulsion electronics, and interfaces, with on‑site work in Villeneuve (VD). Fluency in English is required.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to design high‑reliability flight hardware.
• Experience with qualification and environmental testing.
• Strong background in digital and mixed‑signal design.

Responsibilities

• Flight computer PCB design from current revision through qualification.
• Design and test redundancy architectures for fault tolerance.
• Select components across digital, mixed‑signal and power domains.

Skills

PCB Design

High-reliability electronics

Digital logic

Embedded lifecycle

English fluency

Education

MSc in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Cadence

Job description

PAVE Space is building LYOBA, a heavy kick stage moving up to 4-tonne payloads from LEO to high-energy orbits in under 24 hours.

The current revision of the flight computer exists in hardware. A light revision is due by Q2 2027 to support an IOD mission flying in 2028, but that's the starting line, not the finish. The real weight of this role is in qualifying that board for flight and then leading the avionics hardware for what comes next. Your scope spans the full range of what flies: flight computers, propulsion electronics, interfaces, and more.

You will own

Flight computer PCB design: current revision through qualification and beyond

Redundancy architecture: design, simulation, and test of fault-tolerant schemes

Component selection across digital, mixed-signal, and power domains

Fabrication support, board assembly, and hands‑on debugging

Verification and validation through qualification, functional, and environmental testing

Radiation resiliency characterisation of flight electronics (SEE, TID)

What we are looking for

MSc in Electrical Engineering, or the equivalent earned in practice

Strong PCB design experience in Altium, KiCad, or Cadence

Background in high‑reliability electronics (aerospace, defence, nuclear, medical, or automotive)

Deep understanding of digital logic, signal integrity, and mixed‑signal noise and power management

You've taken an embedded system through the full cycle: requirement definition, PCB design, hardware debugging, firmware/software integration

Fluent English (our working language)

Nice to have: high‑speed interface design (DDR, PCIe, Ethernet, USB), power integrity analysis, radiation effects knowledge and hands‑on experience with rad‑tolerant components, dual/triple modular redundancy, familiarity with ECSS-Q-ST or equivalent standards.

You will fit if

You're comfortable making component and architecture trade‑offs when the requirements are still forming and the datasheets don't tell you everything.

You'd rather prototype it, assemble it, debug it, and qualify it yourself than hand it off between stages.

You step outside your core discipline when the timeline needs it.

You want to lead the hardware, not just contribute to it.

This role is fully on‑site in Villeneuve (VD), because the boards don't debug themselves remotely. The work is early and hard, some requirements are still forming, qualification is ahead of you not behind you, and the timeline to flight doesn't have slack built in. What makes that worth it: you lead every board that flies on the most ambitious space programme in Switzerland. Flight computer, propulsion electronics, all of it — your hardware becomes the nervous system of a spacecraft that actually launches.

We are building to ship, grounded on real hardware, real funding, real milestones.