Electrical Design Engineer, Avionics

etc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Healthcare

Flexible PTO

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

Exploration Technology Corp is assembling a hands-on electrical engineering team to build space hardware systems. You will own high-speed embedded electronics, from concept through flight integration, while solving diverse challenges from bench to board design.

The role emphasizes generalist hardware proficiency, strong signal integrity, and collaboration with cross-functional teams across SF and customer facilities. Experience with flight hardware and radiation-tolerant design is valued.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 3+ years in avionics or embedded hardware design.
• Proficiency with Altium or KiCad for multi-layer PCBs.
• Experience with high-speed interfaces, timing closure, and signal integrity.
• Hands-on bench skills: soldering, crimping and test equipment.

Responsibilities

• Own schematic design, PCB layout, and component selection for embedded avionics.
• Develop high-speed interfaces, memory links, timing closure.
• Design power architectures with sequencing and fault recovery.
• Design harnesses and create harness drawings.
• Lead bring-up, test, and qualification campaigns on flight hardware.
• Collaborate across software, mechanical, thermal, and manufacturing teams in SF and at customer sites.

Skills

High-speed design

Power budgeting

Harness design

Schematic capture

PCB layout

Signal integrity

Radiation-tolerant design

Bench assembly

Vendor management

Documentation

Python scripting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Job description

etc, the Exploration Technology Corp, is a team of techno-optimists and outdoors adventurers. We are motivated by the challenge of solving tough engineering problems, committed to creating sustainable change, and driven by a curiosity to explore and understand both our natural world and the universe.

For decades, the tools and technologies developed for spaceflight, defense, and exploration have not only helped us expand our understanding of the universe but have also supported human advancement here on Earth. We carry this legacy forward, knowing that innovation in these areas can lead to solutions that help people everywhere.

At etc, we are actively developing cutting-edge exploration and defense missions. If you join the team, you will have the opportunity to work on hardware and software for US Department of Defense missions, NASA programs, and much more.

About the role

We're hiring a hands-on electrical engineer to join our team building space hardware systems. You'll act as the responsible engineer for the high-speed embedded electronics and interconnects on real flight hardware, owning boards and harnesses from concept through schematic, layout, build, bring-up, qualification, and flight integration. While you should be experienced with high-speed digital board design, this isn't a narrow specialist role; we are seeking a generalist who is as comfortable at the test bench and the design station, sees the big picture, moves fast, and thrives on solving a new problem every day.

What you'll do

• High-Speed Digital Design: Own schematic design, component selection, and PCB layout for embedded avionics boards, including compute, networking, interface, and interconnect hardware. Design high-speed digital interfaces and memory and gigabit links with proper timing closure, develop clocking and clock distribution architectures, and manage stack-up, controlled impedance, and signal integrity from first principles.
• Power & Reliability: Perform power budgeting and system-level power allocation across board subsystems. Design robust power architectures with sequencing, protection, and fault recovery. Apply radiation-tolerant design techniques, including SEE mitigation, TID considerations, and appropriate component derating, to produce highly reliable electronics for extreme environments
• Harness Design: Design wire harnesses and cable assemblies for flight and ground systems, including connector selection, pinouts, wire routing, shielding, and strain relief. Produce harness drawings and build documentation to workmanship standards.
• Build & Sourcing: Generate fabrication and assembly drawings, BOMs, and build instructions. Source components and manage fabrication and assembly vendors for prototype and low-rate production builds. Assemble, rework, and troubleshoot boards and harnesses by hand, and design fixtures and tooling to simplify recurring work
• Bring-Up, Test & Qualification: Drive board bring-up including configuration, interface verification, and structured debugging down to the component level. Define acceptance and qualification test requirements, then develop and execute bench, functional, and environmental test campaigns to prove out the design.
• Integration: Collaborate with software, mechanical, thermal, and manufacturing teams through design reviews and cross-functional integration. Provide hands-on support for assembly, test, and integration in San Francisco and at customer facilities.

Qualifications

• Education:Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or
• related technical field.
• Experience: 3+ years of professional experience in avionics or embedded hardware design, analysis, and unit-level testing, preferably in aerospace, defense, robotics, or similar
• Technical skills:
• Proficiency in a modern EDA tool for schematic capture and multi-layer PCB layout (Altium, KiCad, or similar)
• Experience designing high-speed digital interfaces and embedded compute hardware, including signal integrity, timing closure, and length/impedance-matched routing
• Experience with analog, digital, and mixed-signal multi-layer PCB design, including power supply design
• Experience designing wire harnesses and creating harness drawings
• Experience with board bring-up and debug using standard avionics test equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, and current probes
• Comfortable at the bench with soldering, crimping, and hands-on assembly and rework
• Experience sourcing components and working with fabrication and assembly vendors
• Ability to produce clear design documentation, drawings, and test procedures
• Preferences:
• Expeditionary mindset: you have the curiosity and drive to ask big questions about the natural world and deploy systems to extreme environments to answer those questions
• Experience as a responsible engineer for flight hardware from conception through qualification and flight
• Experience with space systems, satellites, or aerospace hardware development
• Familiarity with radiation effects (SEE, SEU, TID) and mitigation techniques
• Experience designing around system-on-module or embedded compute platforms
• Familiarity with IPC workmanship standards (IPC-A-610, IPC/WHMA-A-620) and NASA workmanship standards
• Basic scripting (Python or similar) for test automation and data analysis

What We Offer

• Equity participation, healthcare, flexible PTO, and professional development opportunities.

The pay range for this role is:

100,000 - 165,000 USD per year (San Francisco)