Avionics Engineer (Power Systems)

Rendezvous Robotics; Golden (CO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Vision and dental coverage

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Paid parental leave

Vacation

Paid holidays

Job summary

Rendezvous Robotics in Golden, Colorado is seeking a senior electrical engineer to own the spacecraft power system and battery management. You will design, test, and bring‑up power electronics and high‑current drive circuits, collaborating with hardware and firmware teams to ensure mission readiness.

The role requires a strong background in Li‑ion batteries, protection schemes, and PCB design, with hands‑on bench debugging and systems‑level thinking.

Qualifications

• Degree in electrical engineering, or equivalent hands‑on experience.
• Senior level 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Power electronics design: switching converters, magnetics, and thermal design.
• Lithium‑ion battery systems, battery management, and safety practices.
• Schematic capture and PCB design in KiCad or Altium, through manufacturing and bring‑up.
• Bench fluency: scopes, electronic loads, supplies, and a methodical debugging approach.

Responsibilities

• Own the spacecraft power bus from battery to loads.
• Manage and protect battery packs.
• Develop high‑current actuator drive electronics and switching.
• Design circuit protection and fault isolation to keep systems fault‑tolerant.
• Do power monitoring/telemetry and keep the system within margins.
• Do schematic capture, layout review, bring‑up and test of power hardware with digital/firmware teams.

Skills

Power electronics design

Battery management

Schematic / PCB design

Bench testing

Education

Electrical engineering degree

Tools

KiCad

Altium

Job description

Today, everything we send to space is constrained by what fits inside a rocket fairing. That’s a fundamental bottleneck to building more capable spacecraft. Rendezvous Robotics is solving this problem with electromagnetic self‑assembling tiles: modular spacecraft components that rendezvous, dock, and latch to assemble bigger and more powerful spacecraft than anything that can be folded to fit into a rocket.

We’re a small team based in Golden, Colorado, executing on a clear path from flight demonstration to our first operational systems. Our work spans hardware, software, and systems engineering. We are looking for the best people in the world who want to build the next generation of advanced spacecraft.

Responsibilities & Ownership

• The power bus for our spacecraft, from the battery through distribution to every load that computes, senses, or actuates
• Management and protection of battery packs
• High‑current actuator drive electronics and the switching that gates power to them
• Circuit protection and fault isolation: inrush limiting, electronic fusing, and a coherent protection scheme that keeps the system fault‑tolerant
• Power monitoring and telemetry, and the budgets that keep the system within margin
• Schematic capture, layout review, bring‑up, and test of the power hardware, working with the digital hardware and firmware engineers who build on it

Basic Qualifications

• Degree in electrical engineering, or equivalent hands‑on experience
• Senior level only 5+ years of relevant experience
• Power electronics design: switching converters, magnetics, and thermal design
• Lithium‑ion battery systems, battery management, and the safety practices that come with them
• Schematic capture and PCB design in a tool such as KiCad or Altium, through manufacturing and bring‑up
• Bench fluency: scopes, electronic loads, supplies, and a methodical approach to debugging real boards

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in spaceflight or other high‑reliability hardware (aerospace, automotive, medical, defense)
• Design for thermal‑vacuum environments, derating, and radiation considerations
• Motor and actuator drive electronics such as H‑bridges and stepper drivers
• Power telemetry over I2C/SMBus and writing the scripts to exercise it

Compensation and Benefits

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case‑by‑case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job‑related knowledge and skills, education, and experience. In addition to the base salary, you may also be eligible for long‑term incentives in the form of stock options. You will receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, short‑ and long‑term disability insurance, life insurance, and paid parental leave. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year.

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, an applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Rendezvous Robotics is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Rendezvous Robotics is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.