Chief Engineer - Electrical Engineering

Firefly Aerospace, Inc.

Austin, Northern (TX, KY)

Hybrid

USD 180,000 - 260,000

Full time

2 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

3-month sabbatical after 5 years

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Life and disability insurance

Mental health services

Paid military leave

Dog-friendly workplace

401(k) with 4% match

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. in Austin, TX is seeking an Electrical Engineering Chief Engineer to provide technical leadership for design, development, and verification of spaceborne electrical and avionics systems.

You will define requirements, guide teams, and oversee product development from concept to flight qualification. This hands-on leadership role collaborates with Systems Engineering, Mechanical, Software, RF, and Mission Assurance to deliver flight-ready architectures and robust space

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Computer, or Aerospace Engineering.
15+ years of progressive electrical/avionics experience in aerospace.
Technical authority on flight hardware programs.
Strong depth in spacecraft power, avionics/data handling, and harnessing.
Experience with EEE parts selection and radiation mitigation.
Leadership of multi-disciplinary teams and trade studies.
Experience from concept to flight qualification including PCB, firmware, and systems.
Excellent written and verbal communication.
Master's or Ph.D. preferred.
Willingness to obtain security clearance if required.

Responsibilities

Own the electrical and avionics baseline and architectural direction.
Define spacecraft and launch vehicle electrical architectures.
Establish design standards, processes, and best practices.
Lead development, allocation, and management of system requirements.
Lead major design reviews and technical risk assessments.
Drive modular architecture to maximize reuse across vehicles.
Provide direction to electrical, power, avionics, FPGA/ASIC, firmware teams.
Lead trade studies to optimize performance, cost, schedule, and risk.
Ensure compliance with space environmental requirements.
Define and guide integration and test strategies.
Support failure analysis and anomaly resolution during development.
Collaborate with Systems, Mechanical, Software, RF, and Mission Assurance.
Mentor engineers and contribute to roadmaps and proposals.
Improve processes and design-for-manufacturing practices.

Skills

Technical leadership

Systems engineering

Power systems

Spacecraft avionics

Mentoring

Proposal experience

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree or Ph.D. preferred

Tools

SpaceWire

CAN bus

MIL-STD-1553

Ethernet

Job description

At Firefly, we're focused on making space attainable for everyone - including you! Each team member's passion, dedication, and innovative ideas have a direct impact on fueling our successful trajectory into space. And there's no shortage of meaningful projects to work on at Firefly. With launch, lunar, and orbital vehicles, Firefly has a diverse line of business with opportunities to get hands-on experience launching rockets, operating in space, and landing on the Moon.

As we head into the holiday weekend, we're proud ...

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What does it take to make a lander space-ready? ...

What's hotter than a Texas summer? Our Miranda ...

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POV: You`re an intern at an aerospace company.
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Talk about being in the right place at the right ...

Headquartered in the Lone Star State, Firefly's hardworking team reflects Texas' GO BIG culture in everything we do. We build big, achieve big, and dream big. We're building launch vehicles and spacecraft to provide rapid, reliable space access. We've achieved some incredible wins, including the first successful commercial Moon landing. And we're dreaming bigger than this planet with ambitions to Mars, Venus, and beyond. Our core values are what drive us along the way.

Passion

Fireflies believe in perseverance, responsiveness, and mentoring others with a focus on inspiring a better future.

Accountability

Fireflies act with integrity and take ownership of our actions, commitments, decisions, and outcomes.

Fireflies work in alignment across teams and communicate clearly with mutual respect for one another.

Fireflies deliver high-quality work through technical rigor and timely disciplined execution for our customers.

We take care of our Fireflies with some of the best benefits in the industry. Our mission to make space for everyone starts with our employees and allowing them to make space for their family, their career, and their future.

Space for You

Unlimited PTO for exempt employees
3-month sabbatical for every 5 years of service
Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
Mental health services
Paid military leave

Space for Your Family

12 weeks paid maternity leave
4 weeks paid spouse leave
$20k towards family planning: fertility, surrogacy, adoption
Dog friendly workplace

Space for Your Career

$10k/year towards trade school or college
Ongoing coaching to advance leadership skills

Space for Your Future

Employee-ownership with stock bonuses
4% Safe Harbor 401(k) matching
$10k bonus for home purchase in Cedar Park, Texas

Job Openings

From launch technicians to propulsion engineers, Firefly has open roles across the company. We're looking for passionate, bright innovators to join our team and help make space an achievable dream for everyone.

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the first commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the first company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

Summary The Electrical Engineering Chief Engineer will provide technical leadership for the design, development, integration, and verification of spaceborne electrical and avionics systems. In this role, you will serve as the technical authority for spacecraft electrical architectures across multiple space programs. You will define component and system level electrical requirements, guide multi-disciplinary engineering teams, ensure design integrity through all lifecycle phases, and interface directly with internal leadership to achieve mission and business objectives. As a leader in technology development, you will be responsible for visionary new product development including research and development into emerging technology, prototyping new designs, generating basic software and firmware as needed to create proof of concept, and providing technical oversight to the product design team to develop concepts into flight qualified hardware solutions.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You will work closely with the Director of Electrical Engineering, technical leads, Systems Engineering, and Program Management to deliver robust, flight-ready electrical systems.

Responsibilities

Own the technical baseline and architectural direction for electrical and avionics systems across Hardware, Firmware, Harnessing, Launch Vehicle Systems, and Spacecraft Systems.
Define and own spacecraft and launch vehicle electrical architectures, including power generation/distribution/storage, command and data handling, communication interfaces, and harnessing.
Establish, maintain, and enforce electrical engineering design standards, processes, and best practices.
Lead the development, allocation, and management of system and subsystem electrical requirements, ensuring traceability, verification, and validation.
Lead and chair major design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRR) and technical risk assessments; sign off on design maturity and readiness.
Drive the common modular architecture effort to maximize reuse and commonality across launch vehicles and spacecraft.
Provide technical direction and oversight to electrical, power, avionics, FPGA/ASIC, firmware, and harness teams; review and approve key design artifacts, analyses, schematics, ICDs, power budgets, and test plans.
Lead trade studies (power architectures, redundancy, component selection, radiation tolerance, derating, thermal/electrical interfaces) to optimize performance, cost, schedule, and risk.
Ensure compliance with space environmental requirements (radiation, EMI/EMC, thermal, vacuum, launch loads) and guide EEE parts selection, qualification, and derating.
Define and guide integration and test strategies, including functional testing, hardware-in-the-loop, environmental qualification (vibration, shock, TVAC, EMI), and system-level verification.
Support failure analysis, anomaly resolution, and root-cause/corrective action during development, integration, test, and on-orbit operations.
Collaborate closely with Systems Engineering, Mechanical, Software, RF, GNC, Mission Assurance, and other disciplines to ensure balanced, integrated vehicle designs.
Support department management with product/technology roadmaps, IRAD direction, proposal technical volumes, BOEs, risk assessments, and new business capture.
Mentor and develop engineers at all levels, promoting rigorous engineering practices and a culture of technical excellence.
Continuously improve internal processes, tools, analysis methods, and design-for-manufacturing/test practices.

Qualifications

Required

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related field.
15+ years of progressive experience in electrical or avionics engineering for complex aerospace systems (launch vehicles and/or spacecraft), including significant technical leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience as technical authority or chief/lead engineer on flight hardware programs, owning architecture and design integrity through development, integration, test, and flight.
Strong technical depth in spacecraft/launch vehicle power systems, avionics/data handling (including common buses such as SpaceWire, CAN, MIL-STD-1553, Ethernet), harnessing, and related disciplines.
Proven experience with EEE parts selection and derating, radiation effects (TID, SEE) and mitigation, requirements management, and space environmental qualification.
Track record leading multi-disciplinary teams, conducting trade studies, resolving complex technical issues, and balancing technical performance with cost and schedule constraints.
Experience taking designs from concept through high TRL / flight qualification, including PCB assemblies, firmware, and system-level integration and test.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to prepare and present complex technical material to engineering teams, leadership, and external customers.
Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and collaborate across multiple engineering disciplines.
Master's Degree or Ph.D. preferred.
Direct experience with modular avionics architectures and design-for-reuse across multiple vehicle platforms.
Hands-on background in board-level design, FPGA/ASIC development, or harness design and analysis.
Experience supporting on-orbit operations, anomaly resolution, and post-flight analysis.
Familiarity with configuration management, requirements management tools, and technical baseline control in a flight hardware environment.
Prior experience providing technical content for proposals and supporting new business capture.
Knowledge of relevant industry standards (MIL-STD, ECSS, NASA, or equivalent) and best practices for space electrical systems.
Ability and willingness to obtain a security clearance if required.