Electronics Engineer

Dawn Aerospace; Christchurch (VA); On-site; USD 50,000 - 67,000; Full time

Job summary

Dawn Aerospace is seeking an Electronics Engineer in Christchurch to design, qualify, and produce high‑reliability electronics for our space propulsion systems. You will work across design, testing, and manufacturing with systems, mechanical, and production teams.

This role is open for both Intermediate and Senior Engineers, with scope aligned to experience. You will own end‑to‑end hardware development from concept to flight‑ready production.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering or equivalent.
• 3+ years in electronics hardware design, build, and test.
• Strong understanding of circuit design fundamentals and EE principles.
• Passion for PCB design and high-reliability electronics.
• Proficient with KiCAD/Altium; Git for version control.
• Experience with lab equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies).
• Python for basic testing or analysis.
• Familiarity with ECSS/NASA design practices.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop mixed-signal, power, and embedded electronics for space applications.
• Component selection, schematics capture, and layout using KiCAD; maintain designs in Git.
• Apply ECSS/NASA design practices to ensure reliability in space environment.
• Plan and execute verification, qualification, and acceptance test campaigns.
• Hands-on bring-up, debugging and root-cause analysis with standard lab equipment.
• Support new product development from concept through design, test, and production.
• Contribute to manufacturing support and continuous improvement of released hardware.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver hardware on schedule.

Skills

Electronics design

KiCAD/Altium

Embedded systems

PCB layout

Python

Git

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electronics or Mechatronics

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Power supplies

Electronic loads

Job description

Dawn Aerospace has become the biggest green propulsion provider in the world, and our ambitions are even greater. We’re growing our portfolio of products to be even more performant, reliable and mass-manufacturable.

As an Electronics Engineer, you will directly contribute to the design, qualification, and production of high-reliability electronics for our space propulsion systems. You will play a key role in developing flight-ready propulsion electronics, working across design, testing, and manufacturing in close collaboration with systems, mechanical, and production teams.

This role is open for both Intermediate and Senior Engineers. The scope of responsibility and technical ownership will be aligned to experience and capability.

This role combines hands‑on electronics engineering with end-to-end ownership and offers exposure to the full lifecycle of flight hardware, from early concepts and prototypes through qualification and release to production.

If you want a role where you can just do the same thing every day, then this is not for you. We’re looking for a highly motivated, talented Electronics/Aviation Engineer who is unafraid to own complex problems and their solution.

What You’ll Do

• Design and develop mixed-signal, power, and embedded electronics for space applications
• Detailed design of in-space electronics including component selection, schematics capture and layout using KiCAD and maintain designs in Git
• Apply ECSS/NASA design practices to ensure reliability and robustness in the space environment
• Plan and execute verification, qualification, and acceptance test campaigns
• Perform hands‑on bring‑up, debugging, and root‑cause analysis using standard lab equipment
• Support new product development from concept through design, test, and production
• Contribute to manufacturing support and continuous improvement of released hardware
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver hardware on schedule

What we’re looking for

• Bachelor’s degree in Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering, or demonstration of equivalent ability

• Minimum 3+ years' experience designing, building, and testing electronics hardware
• Strong understanding of electric circuit design fundamentals and electrical engineering principles
• Passion for PCB design and developing high reliability electronics
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and ability to communicate technical topics clearly
• Strong PCB schematic and layout design ability using KiCAD, Altium or similar.
• Practical experience using laboratory test equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies, electronic loads)
• Familiarity with Python for basic testing or analysis
• Experience with version control (Git or similar)

What will set you apart

• Experience with design and testing for EMC
• Design for high reliability, fault‑tolerant systems
• Experience with electronics radiation tolerance and testing
• Experience with component selection for extreme environments
• Familiarity with high‑reliability standards (ECSS, NASA, automotive, or medical)
• Understanding of DFM/DFT principles
• Experience with robust testing or qualification regimes

We welcome engineers from all industries, especially those from high‑performance environments.

Why Dawn?

Our teams are small, highly capable, and move quickly. You’ll work hands‑on as part of Dawn’s propulsion team, alongside the engineers developing our spaceplane and in‑space hardware, with real ownership from early concepts through to flight‑ready systems that actually fly. We expect engineers to solve difficult problems, make decisions, and see their work have a direct impact on the future of space access.

Based in Christchurch, you’ll be part of a globally ambitious aerospace and deep‑tech community, with mountains, coastline, and adventure on your doorstep.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Dawn Aerospace, we believe that diverse teams build better solutions. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences are valued and supported to do their best work.

About Dawn Aerospace

Dawn Aerospace is a space transportation company with a purpose.
Our mission is to enable the next generation of space users by providing more sustainable and scalable ways to access and move around in space. We believe this access, in the form of a transportation network, will fundamentally change what’s possible from space. We currently focus on three areas of space transportation:

• In-space propulsion
  We're a leading supplier of turnkey green propulsion systems for various classes of satellites. Our systems utilise safe, accessible propellants and we have over 170 of these propulsion units on more than 40 operational satellites already. A further 200 units are in production.
• In-space servicing
  Coupled with our propulsion expertise, we are ensuring that our customers' satellites are refuellable. In the coming years, Dawn will offer a refueling service to enable life extension of customer satellites. This new market is aligned with our sustainability goal to ensue a clean and safe space for everyone!
• Spaceplane
  We are developing the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever to take off from a runway, combining the extreme performance of rocket propulsion with the reusability of conventional airplanes to enable high-frequency, low-cost access to sub-orbital space.

Our international teams are distributed across four locations: the Netherlands, France, New Zealand, and the USA.