Avionics Engineer

Formula Bharat; India; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Aspera in Bengaluru is seeking an Avionics Engineer to own the electronic nervous system of our fixed-wing drones. You will oversee flight controllers, autopilots, sensors, power distribution, and the telemetry/C2 links that keep aircraft in contact during flight.

You’ll work with airframe structures, flight software, and flight test teams, having authority to shape avionics architecture, wiring, and failsafe logic, driving changes through wiring diagrams and bench testing to the aircraft.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years of experience in avionics engineering, electrical/systems engineering, or a closely related field.
• Solid grounding in flight controller/autopilot architectures (ArduPilot, PX4, or proprietary equivalents) and sensor fusion fundamentals.
• Comfort with sensor integration and calibration GPS/GNSS, IMU, pitot-static/airspeed.
• Comfort working across electrical/software/structures interface and coordinating with multiple teams.
• Hands-on bench and flight-test experience including wiring, harnesses, and reading flight logs.
• Ability to troubleshoot avionics failures from field operations and flight data.

Responsibilities

• Design, integrate, and maintain avionics architectures for fixed-wing drones, including flight controllers, autopilots, sensors, and power distribution systems.
• Select, configure, and tune autopilot systems for fixed-wing flight dynamics.
• Develop and maintain wiring harnesses, connector layouts, and electrical schematics.
• Integrate telemetry radios, RF links, satellite comms, and C2 datalinks.
• Collaborate with airframe/structures engineers on avionics bay layout, weight & balance, EMI/EMC.
• Conduct bench testing, HIL simulation, and ground testing before flight.
• Support and lead flight test campaigns including pre-flight checks and data analysis.
• Troubleshoot avionics and analyze flight logs.
• Develop and maintain wiring diagrams, ICDs, test procedures, and failure/root-cause reports.
• Collaborate with software engineers on autopilot firmware customization and sensor fusion.
• Support redundancy and failsafe design for long-range missions.

Skills

Flight controllers

Autopilots

Sensor fusion

EMI/EMC considerations

HIL testing

Ground testing

Wiring harnesses

Tools

Mission Planner

QGroundControl

Job description

Avionics Engineer

Bengaluru, India (in-person) || Full-time

About Aspera

Most of the world’s goods still move by ships because flying them has always cost too much. We think that’s a solvable problem.

We are reviving the lost art of aircraft design to build the highest performing freighter aircraft on the planet. We want to enable a world where the cost of not flying is greater than the cost of flying and 100% of the world’s cargo moves by the air.

Our first aircraft is a 2,300 kg MTOW, 1,000 kg payload seaplane, cruising at 70 m/s across 2,000+ km stage lengths. The design is inspired by the biomimicry of sharks, whales, and dolphins. We have designed a retractable, hydrofoil-assisted takeoff architecture rather than a stepped hull.

We are a small, technical team that deeply cares about our art and believe in the fact that the cost of flying is an engineering problem.

The Role

We’re looking for an avionics engineer to own the electronic nervous system of our fixed-wing drones: the flight controllers and autopilots that fly the aircraft, the sensors that tell it where it is and how it’s moving (GPS/GNSS, IMU, pitot-static), and the power, wiring, and comms backbone that ties it all together including the telemetry and C2 links that keep us in contact with the aircraft in flight.

You’ll work directly with our airframe/structures, flight software, and flight test teams, and you’ll have real authority over avionics architecture, not just integration, but the ability to say “this sensor placement won’t work,” “this harness needs to change,” or “this failsafe logic isn’t good enough,” and drive that through wiring diagrams, bench testing, HIL simulation, and into the aircraft that actually flies.

What You’ll do

• Design, integrate, and maintain avionics architectures for fixed-wing drones, including flight controllers, autopilots, sensors (GPS/GNSS, IMU, pitot-static, airspeed), and power distribution systems.
• Select, configure, and tune autopilot systems (e.g., Ardupilot, PX4, or proprietary flight control software) for fixed-wing flight dynamics.
• Develop and maintain wiring harnesses, connector layouts, and electrical schematics for airframes.
• Integrate communication systems telemetry radios, RF links, satellite comms, and command-and-control (C2) datalinks.
• Work closely with airframe/structures engineers to ensure avionics bay layout, weight & balance, and EMI/EMC considerations are addressed.
• Conduct bench testing, HIL (hardware-in-the-loop) simulation, and ground testing of avionics before flight.
• Support and lead flight test campaigns, including pre-flight checks, in-flight data monitoring, and post-flight analysis.
• Troubleshoot avionics failures and anomalies from field operations and flight logs (e.g., using tools like Mission Planner, QGroundControl, or custom telemetry dashboards).
• Develop and maintain documentation: wiring diagrams, ICDs (interface control documents), test procedures, and failure/root-cause reports.
• Collaborate with software engineers on autopilot firmware customization, sensor fusion, and payload integration (cameras, gimbals, mapping/survey sensors).
• Support redundancy and failsafe design (dual battery, redundant links, geofencing, return-to-home logic) for long-range fixed-wing missions.

What We’re Looking For

• 2–5 years of experience in avionics engineering, electrical/systems engineering, or a closely related field: UAS/drone avionics, manned aircraft avionics, robotics electrical systems, or embedded systems with a strong flight software or controls background.
• Solid grounding in flight controller/autopilot architectures (ArduPilot, PX4, or proprietary equivalents), sensor fusion fundamentals, and fixed-wing flight dynamics as they relate to autopilot tuning.
• Working knowledge of sensor integration and calibration GPS/GNSS, IMU, pitot-static/airspeed and you should be comfortable telling us where a sensor spec sheet lines up with real-world performance and where it doesn’t.
• Comfort working across the electrical/software/structures interface you’ll be coordinating constantly with airframe and flight software engineers, and the best candidates already think of avionics bay layout, wiring, and weight & balance as one integrated system rather than separate handoffs.
• Hands‑on bench and flight‑test experience you should be able to set up HIL simulations, wire and troubleshoot your own harnesses, and read flight logs (Mission Planner, QGroundControl, or custom telemetry tools) yourself, not just interpret results handed to you.
• Comfort with first-principles troubleshooting. We push on assumptions here; “that’s how it’s historically wired” isn’t a satisfying answer on its own.
• Nice to have: prior work on long‑range fixed‑wing UAS, redundant/failsafe avionics architectures, RF/satellite comms links, or payload integration (gimbals, mapping/survey sensors).

How to stand out?

Focus on your work, not your credentials. Tell us about projects you’ve worked on: why you built them, what problems you ran into, and how you solved them. Spend minimal time on degrees and coursework. We care a lot about what you’ve made and what you’ve learned from it.