Electrical & Computer Engineer

Orbital - Space Data Centers; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Orbital - Space Data Centers is seeking an Electrical or Computer Engineer to own the GPU compute board for satellite payloads. The role includes designing a custom board with tight constraints, managing designs with ODMs, and ensuring performance through rigorous testing.

Ideal candidates should have proven experience in custom board design, strong digital design skills, and the ability to work collaboratively across disciplines. This position offers an exciting opportunity to work in the aerospace sector.

Qualifications

• Proven experience designing custom boards end-to-end, from schematic to debug.
• Strong grasp of high-speed digital design and interconnects.
• Ability to reason from first principles under tight constraints.

Responsibilities

• Architect and design the custom GPU compute board for the satellite.
• Drive board design with ODM, including reviews and qualification.
• Run signal integrity and power integrity analysis under real conditions.
• Coordinate environmental and qualification testing for the board.

Skills

Custom board design

High-speed PCB layout

Signal integrity

Power integrity

Digital design

Education

Degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Job description

The Role

You\'ll own the GPU compute board — the heart of our payload — from architecture through manufacturing. Working hands-on with our contract manufacturer (ODM), you\'ll design a custom board that delivers maximum compute per watt while conforming to the realities of a satellite: tight power and mass budgets, demanding thermal interfaces, the radiation environment of LEO, and launch loads.

You\'ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with our Mechanical & Thermal Engineer — the electrical and thermal/mechanical design of the payload are deeply coupled, and the two of you will co-own the GPU stack from silicon to radiator.

What You\'ll Do

• Architect and design the custom GPU compute board (schematic capture and high-speed PCB) that serves as the satellite\'s primary payload.
• Drive board design and bring-up in close partnership with our ODM — design reviews, DFM, prototype builds, NPI, and qualification.
• Own the high-speed interconnect architecture — GPU-to-GPU fabric (e.g., NVLink), SerDes, and high-speed signaling — and evaluate optical / silicon-photonic interconnect for on-board and satellite-to-satellite links.
• Run signal integrity and power integrity analysis and ensure the board meets performance under real operating conditions.
• Co-design the electrical/thermal/mechanical interface of the payload with the Mechanical & Thermal Engineer — power delivery, heat extraction from the GPUs, packaging, and shielding of components against radiation.
• Translate satellite-level constraints (power, mass, volume, thermal, radiation, vibration) into board-level requirements and tradeoffs.
• Coordinate environmental and qualification testing (vibration, thermal-vacuum) for the board and payload.
• Manage component selection, supplier relationships, and BOM with an eye toward manufacturability and scale.

What You Bring

• Degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering (or equivalent experience).
• Proven experience designing custom boards / system boards end-to-end — schematic, high-speed PCB layout, bring-up, and debug.
• Strong grasp of high-speed digital design, SerDes, and modern compute interconnects (NVLink or comparable GPU/accelerator fabrics).
• Hands-on experience working with an ODM / contract manufacturer through design, NPI, and qualification.
• Solid signal-integrity and power-integrity fundamentals.
• Ability to reason from first principles and make sound tradeoffs under tight, coupled constraints — and to work effectively with a tiny team across electrical, thermal, and mechanical disciplines.

Bonus Points

• Familiarity with silicon photonics / co-packaged optics and optical interconnect.
• Experience with GPU server / AI-accelerator hardware at a hyperscaler, NVIDIA, or an AI-hardware company.
• Space, aerospace, or rad-hard hardware experience (radiation effects, derating, environmental qualification).
• Experience taking hardware from prototype to volume manufacturing.