Electrical Engineer Avionics Design for Fastwater Staffing

HIKINEX; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

HIKINEX is seeking an Avionics Engineer in Costa Mesa, CA, responsible for full cycle PCB design and electrical integration details. This role involves collaborating with avionics engineers and troubleshooting issues across electrical and software boundaries, ensuring mission-critical products for defense applications. Candidates should have a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering and at least 3 years of relevant experience. Strong skills in lab equipment and electrical bus interfaces are preferred.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience designing, testing, and troubleshooting complex system designs.
• Ability to perform power system and electrical loading analysis.
• Exceptional organization and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Conduct full cycle PCB design.
• Troubleshoot issues across electrical and software boundaries.
• Collaborate closely with other engineers to deliver mission-critical products.

Skills

PCB design

Circuit design

Microcontrollers

Troubleshooting

Lab test equipment usage

Electrical bus interfaces

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Oscilloscopes

DMM

Benchtop power supplies

Job description

About the Team

The Air Dominance and Strike (AD&S) Electrical Engineering Team is responsible for developing high-reliability avionics, embedded processing, and power systems for Group 5 air vehicles and missile platforms. Working across hardware, software, and mission autonomy, the team delivers flight-critical electronics, PCB assemblies, and FPGA-based processing architectures that enable our client's next-generation autonomous air platforms to operate in complex and contested environments. AD&S Electrical Engineers drive end-to-end development, from system architecture and circuit design to verification, integration, and flight test, ensuring scalable, mission-ready solutions that meet the performance, reliability, and survivability demands of the U.S. Military and modern air warfare.

About the Job

We are looking for an Avionics Engineer to join our rapidly growing team in Costa Mesa, CA. In this role, you will be tasked with working closely with avionics engineers to review and design electrical integration details to ensure details are documented and communicated to all relevant stakeholders. If you are someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment supporting new developments, active deployments, and customer operated hardware, we are looking for you.

What You Will Do

• Full cycle PCB design including collecting requirements, schematic design, component selection, supervision or completion of layout, bring-up, test, debug, and system integration
• Conduct bring-up and design work on microcontrollers, ensuring seamless integration within the system
• Troubleshoot issues that span electrical and software boundaries, utilizing both lab equipment (Oscilloscopes, DMM, etc.) and basic software debugging tools

Additional Learning & Development Opportunities

• Work in a fast-paced environment supporting new developments, deployments, and customer operated hardware
• Perform power design, including development and integration of power management systems and components
• Develop payloads and subsystems (sensors, payload interfaces, power management, and networking)
• Create system interconnect diagrams and define wire harnesses that connect electronic equipment within a subsystem
• Collaborate closely with other electrical, mechanical, software, firmware, and test engineers to deliver fully functional, mission-critical products
• Conduct peer-level and cross-discipline design reviews

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent, with 3+ years of experience designing, testing, and troubleshooting complex system designs
• Ability to perform power system and electrical loading analysis, simulation, and testing to determine optimal solutions
• High competence using lab test equipment (benchtop power supplies, electronics loads, oscilloscopes, DMM, logic/spectrum analyzers, etc.) with familiarity of thermal and EMI test chambers and using basic software debugging tools
• Familiarity with common electrical bus interfaces (CAN, I2C, SPI, Ethernet, RS232/422, RS485, USB)
• Exceptional organization and communication skills (both written and oral)
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. security clearance
• Experience with power design and power management systems
• Hands‑on experience with microcontrollers, including bring‑up and design work
• Knowledge of modern analog and digital electronics and electronic circuits
• Experience designing mixed‑signal PCBs with multiple layer counts, layer stackup and impedance matching for power and sensor applications, understanding correct grounding approaches and employing appropriate board protections and filtering
• Understanding of low voltage and high voltage power electronics and control systems in order to capture system interconnect diagrams and drive cable harnessing designs with proper wire and connector selection

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiar with high‑end consumer or military embedded systems design
• Experience with power systems including batteries and AC power.
• Develop low‑level firmware for bring‑up and test
• Background in defense and missile systems.
• Comprehensive understanding of the effects of temperature and vibration on electrical designs.