Avionics Engineer

Wardstone; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualifications

• BS degree in electrical/computer engineering or related field.
• 2+ years designing and fielding electronics hardware from design to test.
• Strong PCB design experience and mixed-signal/power electronics knowledge.
• Hands-on prototyping and test with lab equipment.

Responsibilities

• Define avionics architecture including flight computer, power distribution, and data buses.
• Design, simulate, and lay out PCBs for computing, sensing, actuation, and power.
• Own schematic capture, layout, component selection, DFM, and vendor work.
• Develop reliable power systems with DC-DC, batteries, protection, and transient management.
• Integrate sensors and actuators and design sensor interfaces for flight software.
• Design wiring harnesses and electrical interfaces to the launcher.
• Lead electrical qualification testing (EMI/EMC, vibration, thermal, high-G).
• Collaborate with embedded software on drivers and hardware-firmware interface.
• Bring up, debug, and iterate hardware in lab with scopes and analyzers; support flight tests.
• Write requirements, test plans, and documentation; take hardware from concept to flight-ready.

Skills

PCB design

Schematic capture

Power electronics

Signal integrity

EMI/EMC

Soldering & bring-up

Lab instrumentation

Unit testing

Education

B.S. in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Job description

You will own the electronics on Wardstone's interceptors, from board-level design and power systems to sensor integration, harnessing, and the electrical interface to the launcher. This is a hands-on role. You'll design boards, build and debug them yourself, and take them through qualification to flight.

You'll work directly with the founders and with the seeker, GNC, embedded software, propulsion, and mechanical engineers. Your hardware will fly and intercept targets.

What You'll Do

Design the electronics

• Define the avionics architecture, including the flight computer, power distribution, and data buses.
• Design, simulate, and lay out PCBs for computing, sensing, actuation, and power.
• Own schematic capture, layout, component selection, DFM, and vendor work.
• Develop reliable power systems, including DC-DC conversion, batteries, protection circuits, and transient management.

Integrate sensors and actuators

• Integrate the seeker, IMUs, GNSS, and electromechanical actuators.
• Design signal-conditioning circuits and low-latency sensor and actuator interfaces for the flight software and autopilot.
• Design wiring harnesses with the mechanical team, along with the electrical interface to the launcher.
• Design electronics to survive high-G launch, vibration, shock, and thermal extremes, working with the mechanical team on packaging and analysis.
• Lead electrical qualification testing, including EMI/EMC, vibration, thermal, and high-G testing.

Bring up and integrate hardware

• Work with embedded software engineers on processor selection, drivers, and the hardware-firmware interface.
• Bring up, debug, and iterate hardware in the lab using scopes, logic analyzers, and DAQs.
• Support vehicle integration, ground testing, and flight test.

Own it end to end

• Write requirements, test plans, and documentation.
• Take hardware from concept through prototype and test to flight-ready.

Required Qualifications

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• 2+ years designing and fielding electronics hardware, including at least one system taken from design through test. Student rocketry or similar project teams count.
• Strong PCB design experience (Altium, KiCad, or similar), including mixed-signal and power electronics.
• Strong fundamentals in circuit analysis, signal integrity, noise, grounding, and EMI/EMC.
• Experience integrating sensors, actuators, and power systems.
• Hands-on prototyping skills, including soldering, rework, bring-up, and debugging.
• Comfortable with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and other lab equipment.
• Must be a U.S. person as defined by ITAR (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual). [Must be eligible to obtain a U.S. security clearance.]

Nice to Have

• Experience with avionics for missiles, rockets, UAVs, or other high-speed flight vehicles.
• Experience with high-G electronics design and qualification.
• Experience with wiring harness design or launcher and vehicle electrical interfaces.
• Experience with high-speed digital buses or RF systems.
• Embedded firmware experience (C/C++, RTOS).
• Experience with motor drives or actuator control.
• Experience with MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-810, or similar flight hardware standards.