Senior Electronics and Aviation Engineer

Darwin Recruitment; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Darwin Recruitment is seeking a Senior Electrical & Avionics Engineer in the Netherlands to own electrical architectures and embedded hardware for advanced autonomous platforms. You will design, validate and integrate power systems, avionics interfaces and embedded electronics across the full hardware lifecycle.

You will work with multidisciplinary teams, tackle complex fault investigations and ensure reliability in demanding operational environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Mechatronics, Avionics or a related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in electrical, embedded electronics or hardware engineering.
• Experience with complex aerospace, robotics or mission‑critical environments.
• Proven experience from concept to release of electrical hardware.

Responsibilities

• Define electrical architectures and power systems for autonomous platforms.
• Design schematics and multilayer PCBs for power and avionics.
• Integrate batteries, flight-control hardware and sensors.
• Develop wiring harnesses, connectors and interface documentation.
• EMI/EMC mitigation and power integrity analysis to improve reliability.
• Perform fault-injection testing and root-cause analysis.
• Hardware bring‑up, troubleshooting and lab testing.
• Support system validation and field testing when required.

Skills

Electrical architecture

DC power systems

Troubleshooting

Design for manufacturing

System validation

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Mechatronics, Avionics

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Oscilloscopes

Multimeter / test gear

Job description

Senior Electrical & Avionics Engineer

Location

Netherlands

Industry

Autonomous Systems | Aerospace | Advanced Engineering

Overview of the Role

We are working with an innovative technology company specialising in the development of advanced autonomous aerial systems for demanding and mission-critical operational environments.

Their engineering platforms are designed with a strong focus on reliability, resilience and operational performance. As the company continues to develop and enhance its technology, they are looking to appoint a highly experienced Senior Electrical & Avionics Engineer to play a key role in the design, integration and validation of critical electrical and avionics systems.

This is a hands-on, end-to-end engineering position with responsibility spanning electrical architecture, hardware design, system integration, fault investigation, testing and validation. You will work closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams to ensure that complex autonomous systems remain reliable and predictable in challenging operational environments.

The Role

As the Senior Electrical & Avionics Engineer, you will take technical ownership of the electrical and avionics integrity of advanced autonomous platforms.

You will define and validate robust electrical architectures, power systems, avionics interfaces and embedded hardware, ensuring systems can safely operate during electrical disturbances, subsystem faults and demanding real-world operations.

The role covers the complete engineering lifecycle, from architecture and hardware design through to integration, troubleshooting, validation and controlled release.

Key Responsibilities

• Define electrical architectures, power trees, load budgets, grounding strategies and critical-load priorities.
• Design and develop power distribution, monitoring and protection systems.
• Develop protection strategies against brownouts, overvoltage, reverse polarity, inrush current, short circuits and power interruptions.
• Design schematics and multilayer PCBs for power, avionics, sensor and embedded-system applications.
• Integrate batteries, battery-management systems, flight-control hardware, sensors, actuators, communications equipment, payloads and embedded computers.
• Develop wiring harnesses, connector specifications, pinouts, shielding requirements and interface documentation.
• Integrate systems using a range of embedded communication protocols and interfaces, including CAN, UART, Ethernet, SPI, I²C, USB and discrete I/O.
• Improve overall system reliability through EMI/EMC mitigation, fault containment, component derating and power-integrity analysis.
• Perform fault-injection testing and investigate complex electrical and system-level failures.
• Conduct hardware bring‑up, structured troubleshooting and root‑cause analysis.
• Define and execute laboratory, environmental, vibration, thermal and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Support system-level and operational validation activities, including field testing where required.
• Maintain schematics, PCB documentation, bills of materials, hardware revisions and test procedures.
• Develop test fixtures, manufacturing test processes and integration standards.
• Support the transition of new hardware and systems into engineering and production environments.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for a highly motivated and technically capable engineer who enjoys solving complex problems and taking ownership of challenging engineering projects.

You should be analytical, hands‑on and comfortable investigating difficult electrical or system-level issues. The successful candidate will be able to work effectively across multiple engineering disciplines while maintaining a structured approach to validation, quality and continuous improvement.

This role may occasionally involve travel and work outside standard office hours to support testing or operational activities.

Essential Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Mechatronics, Avionics or a related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in electrical, embedded electronics or hardware engineering.
• Experience working with complex systems within industries such as aerospace, robotics, autonomous systems, defence or other mission‑critical environments.
• Proven experience taking electrical hardware from concept or system architecture through design, bring‑up, validation and release.
• Strong knowledge of electrical architecture and DC power systems.
• Experience with grounding, electrical protection, monitoring and failure‑containment strategies.
• Hands‑on experience with schematic capture and multilayer PCB design.
• Experience using PCB design tools such as Altium, KiCad or similar.
• Practical experience with board bring‑up, rework, probing and electronic test equipment.
• Strong troubleshooting and root‑cause‑analysis capabilities.
• Experience with embedded communication protocols and hardware interfaces, including CAN, UART, Ethernet, SPI, I²C and USB.
• Good understanding of EMI/EMC, shielding, filtering, signal integrity and power integrity.
• Understanding of Design for Manufacturing and Design for Test principles.
• Experience managing BOM risk, component availability, component lifecycle and hardware configuration control.

Highly Preferred

• Experience working with autonomous aerial systems, robotics or advanced autonomous platforms.
• Experience with autopilot or embedded control platforms.
• Knowledge of advanced vehicle communication protocols.
• Experience with positioning, navigation and timing systems.
• Exposure to satellite or advanced wireless communication technologies.
• Experience supporting field testing, operational deployments or system validation activities.

What’s on Offer

• The opportunity to work on advanced autonomous technology with real-world applications.
• A highly hands‑on engineering role with ownership across the full hardware development lifecycle.
• Exposure to cutting‑edge technologies within autonomous systems, embedded electronics, avionics and communications.
• The opportunity to work closely with a multidisciplinary team of experienced engineers.
• Professional development and career‑growth opportunities.
• A flexible and collaborative working environment.
• Competitive benefits and leave entitlement.
• An innovative, informal company culture where technical expertise and new ideas are valued.
• Regular team and company activities.