Chief Engineer, Spacecraft Electrical Systems

firefly; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace is seeking an Electrical Engineering Chief Engineer to provide technical leadership for design, development, integration, and verification of spaceborne electrical and avionics systems. You will define requirements, guide multi-disciplinary teams, ensure design integrity, and oversee flight‑qualified hardware solutions.

This hands‑on leadership role collaborates with the Director of Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Program Management to deliver robust,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or 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.
• 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.

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.

Skills

Electrical engineering

Spacecraft power systems

System architecture

Lead engineer

Requirements management

PCB/firmware

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field

Tools

SpaceWire

CAN

MIL-STD-1553

Ethernet

Job description

Firefly Aerospace is seeking an Electrical Engineering Chief Engineer to provide technical leadership for design, development, integration, and verification of spaceborne electrical and avionics systems. You will define requirements, guide multi-disciplinary teams, ensure design integrity, and oversee flight‑qualified hardware solutions.

This hands‑on leadership role collaborates with the Director of Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Program Management to deliver robust,