Head of Avionics & Spacecraft Flight Systems

Stanford Climate Ventures; El Segundo, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/vision/dental/PTO/401k/stock

Job summary

General Galactic Technologies Corporation, based in Los Angeles, CA, seeks a Director of Avionics to architect and own the electrical design for advanced spacecraft. You will guide the hardware roadmap from concept through flight operations, with potential to scale into broader leadership as the company grows.

You will define interfaces, redundancy, fault tolerance, and power/communication architectures, leading flight computers, power electronics, sensors, and embedded hardware while mentoring

Qualifications

• BS in electrical engineering, computer engineering, aerospace engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years avionics or electrical hardware experience, preferably in aerospace.
• Experience leading avionics architecture for complex hardware-integrated systems.
• Strong schematic capture, PCB layout, bring-up, and hardware debugging.
• Experience with analog, digital, power, embedded, and communication system design.
• Familiarity with CAN, RS-422, SpaceWire, Ethernet, SPI, I2C, UART, and discrete I/O.
• Experience with spacecraft harnessing, grounding, shielding, EMC, and power distribution.
• Understanding of derating, radiation effects, fault tolerance, thermal constraints, high-reliability design.
• Experience with environmental qualification, hazard analysis, root-cause analysis, and production support.
• Experience building and leading technical teams in a fast-paced environment.
• First-principles approach to solving problems with incomplete information.
• Ability to make efficient, technically sound decisions under uncertainty.

Responsibilities

• Own the avionics architecture for General Galactic vehicles, test systems, and ground support equipment.
• Lead design, development, integration, qualification, and deployment of spacecraft electrical and avionics systems.
• Define system-level requirements, interfaces, redundancy, fault tolerance, grounding, power distribution, and communication architectures.
• Oversee schematic design, PCB layout, component selection, board bring-up, and production release.
• Lead development of flight computers, power electronics, sensor interfaces, communication systems, and embedded hardware.
• Recruit, mentor, and manage electrical and avionics engineers as the team grows.
• Collaborate with software, GNC, propulsion, mechanical, and systems teams to deliver integrated vehicle hardware.
• Establish practical avionics development processes, including design reviews, configuration control, documentation, and test tracking.

Skills

Avionics leadership

System design

Cross-functional collaboration

Team mentoring

Requirements definition

Education

Bachelor's degree in EE/CE/AE

Tools

Schematic capture

PCB layout

Hardware debugging

Power electronics

Embedded interfaces

Job description

General Galactic Technologies Corporation, based in Los Angeles, CA, seeks a Director of Avionics to architect and own the electrical design for advanced spacecraft. You will guide the hardware roadmap from concept through flight operations, with potential to scale into broader leadership as the company grows.

You will define interfaces, redundancy, fault tolerance, and power/communication architectures, leading flight computers, power electronics, sensors, and embedded hardware while mentoring