Electrical System Engineer

PAVE Space SA; Villeneuve (VD); Remote; CHF 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

PAVE Space SA in Villeneuve (VD) is seeking an Electrical Engineer to own the spacecraft EPS, driving from approved architecture to flight-ready hardware.

You will size and specify solar arrays, batteries, PCUs, and power distribution, define redundancy, and manage interfaces, harnesses, and suppliers. This on-site role offers broad ownership and hands-on testing on a Swiss space program.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of proven experience in spacecraft EPS, avionics power, or high-reliability embedded power systems (space preferred).
• Experience sizing and selecting solar arrays, batteries, PCUs/DC-DC converters, and power distribution and protection elements
• Ability to create and maintain power budgets, margins, and mission power mode concepts
• Experience with harness design and documentation: connectors, pinouts, routing constraints, manufacturing drawings
• Familiarity with EMC/EMI and grounding principles for mixed RF, power, and digital subsystems
• Hands-on experience with integration and testing, including lab equipment (PSU, electronic load, oscilloscope, DMM) and troubleshooting
• Understanding of space constraints: thermal, radiation context, reliability, derating, workmanship
• Fluent English (our working language)
• Nice to have: ECSS standards or similar space product assurance, battery safety/qualification exposure, EGSE/test procedures, TVAC/vibration test support, French language skills

Responsibilities

• Own the Electrical Power System, from architecture decisions to flight-ready hardware.
• Size and specify solar arrays, battery pack, and PCUs/DC-DC converters.
• Define the power architecture in full, including redundancy, protection, and power modes.
• Produce and maintain the power budget, margins, and operating scenarios.
• Manage electrical interfaces between subsystems: connectors, pinouts, ICDs, grounding.
• Define and design the spacecraft harness including routing constraints and drawings.
• Manage EPS component suppliers end to end: specification, procurement, follow-up, acceptance, non-conformance.
• Contribute hands-on to AIT and test campaigns: troubleshooting and environmental testing support

Skills

EPS design and integration

Electrical engineering

EMC/EMI and grounding

Harness design and documentation

Power budgets and margins

Lab testing and troubleshooting

Fluent English

Education

Degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

PCUs/DC-DC converters

Solar arrays

Batteries

Harness components

Job description

Our IOD mission is on the clock and the electrical power system needs a dedicated owner. Some architectural decisions have been made, but everything from supplier selection to harness design to qualification is ahead of you. You'll be the only electrical engineer on the team, working within a broader engineering group that supports you, but the EPS is yours to drive from the decisions already taken through to flight-ready hardware.

You will own

Size and specify the Electrical Power System: solar arrays, battery pack, and Power Converter Units, building on existing architectural choices and taking them to flight

Define the power architecture in full: generation, storage, conversion, distribution, including redundancy philosophy, protection, and power modes

Produce and maintain the power budget, power margins, and operating scenarios

Manage electrical interfaces between all subsystems: connectors, pinouts, ICDs, grounding, and return paths

Define and design the spacecraft harness, including routing constraints, shielding, segregation, drawings, and manufacturing documentation

Manage EPS component suppliers end to end: specification, procurement, technical follow-up, acceptance, and non-conformance handling

Contribute hands-on to AIT and test campaigns: troubleshooting, functional tests, environmental testing support

What we are looking for

2+ years of proven experience in spacecraft EPS, avionics power, or high-reliability embedded power systems (space preferred)

Degree in Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience that tells the same story

Experience sizing and selecting solar arrays, batteries, PCUs/DC-DC converters, and power distribution and protection elements

Ability to create and maintain power budgets, margins, and mission power mode concepts

Experience with harness design and documentation: connectors, pinouts, routing constraints, manufacturing drawings

Familiarity with EMC/EMI and grounding principles for mixed RF, power, and digital subsystems

Hands-on experience with integration and testing, including lab equipment (PSU, electronic load, oscilloscope, DMM) and troubleshooting

Understanding of space constraints: thermal, radiation context, reliability, derating, workmanship

Fluent English (our working language)

Nice to have: experience with ECSS standards or similar space product assurance processes, battery safety and qualification exposure (cell selection, protection, charge management, abuse cases), experience defining EGSE and writing test procedures, TVAC and vibration test support from an electrical perspective, French language skills.

You will fit if

You want to be the single point of ownership for a spacecraft electrical system, not a contributor to one piece of it.

You're as comfortable negotiating specs with a supplier as you are routing a harness or debugging a power anomaly in the lab.

You make decisions with incomplete information when the timeline demands it, and you know how to protect margins while doing so.

You care about robustness and simplicity over clever design, because what you build has to work where nobody can fix it.

This is fully on-site in Villeneuve (VD). You'll be the only electrical engineer, which means the scope is wide and the decisions are yours. Some architectural choices are already made, others are open, and supplier selection is entirely ahead of you. The timeline is tight and real. What makes that worth it: every watt generated, stored, and distributed on our IOD spacecraft will run through a system you selected, specified, and qualified, and you'll watch it power a mission on the most ambitious space programme in Switzerland.