Senior Autonomous Flight Termination System Hardware Engineer

Next Matter; Rio Rancho (NM); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Long-term equity

Four weeks paid time off

Comprehensive health benefits

Paid parental leave

Fitness stipend

Onsite EV charging

Catered meals

Job summary

Next Matter is looking for a Senior Autonomous Flight Termination System Hardware Engineer in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, to design high-reliability flight safety electronics for long-range hypersonic vehicles. The role involves developing pulsed power electronics and ensuring compliance with safety requirements. Candidates should have at least 5 years of relevant experience and a strong background in high-voltage electronics. Benefits include equity, generous paid time off, comprehensive health coverage, and fitness stipends.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in aerospace or defense electronics.
• Strong background in energy storage and high-current switching.
• Proficiency in circuit design and analysis tools.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop pulsed power electronics for flight termination.
• Lead architecture implementation of electronic safe and arm devices.
• Perform circuit-level modeling to validate performance.

Skills

Pulsed power circuit design

High-voltage electronics

Problem-solving

Circuit design simulation tools

Safety-critical hardware

Education

Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Electrical Engineering

Tools

SPICE

MATLAB/Simulink

Job description

Senior Autonomous Flight Termination System Hardware Engineer

We are seeking a Senior Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) Hardware Engineer to design and deliver high-reliability flight safety electronics for Castelion's long-range hypersonic strike vehicles. This role is critical to ensuring safe, deterministic vehicle termination through robust, fault-tolerant hardware. You will work hands‑on with multidisciplinary engineering teams to design, build, test, and validate pulsed power electronics and firing systems, with a focus on electronic safe and arm devices (ESADs) and related architectures in a fast‑paced, hardware‑driven environment.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop pulsed power electronics for flight termination and firing systems, including high-voltage energy storage, switching, and delivery circuits
• Lead the architecture and implementation of electronic safe and arm devices (ESADs) and related safety‑critical hardware
• Develop robust initiation and firing circuits, ensuring deterministic performance, redundancy, and fault tolerance
• Work closely with avionics, GNC, flight software, and systems engineering teams to ensure seamless integration of AFTS hardware with vehicle systems
• Perform circuit-level and system-level modeling and analysis to validate performance, timing, and reliability under dynamic flight conditions
• Define and execute qualification, environmental, and flight test plans, translating results into system-level improvements
• Support hardware bring‑up, integration, and test campaigns, including debugging, failure analysis, and root cause investigation
• Ensure compliance with safety, range, and mission assurance requirements for flight termination systems
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to best practices in high-reliability pulsed power and safety-critical electronics design
• Partner closely with program leadership to make technical trades aligned with mission success

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Electrical Engineering or related field
• 5+ years of experience designing and validating pulsed power, high-voltage, or firing system electronics for aerospace, defense, or similar high-reliability applications
• Strong background in energy storage, high-speed/high-current switching, and pulsed power circuit design
• Experience with electronic safe and arm devices (ESADs), initiation systems, or similar safety-critical hardware
• Proficiency in circuit design, simulation, and analysis tools (e.g., SPICE, MATLAB/Simulink, or equivalent)
• Experience with hardware bring‑up, environmental testing, and troubleshooting in a lab or flight hardware environment
• Familiarity with system safety, redundancy, and fault-tolerant design principles for mission-critical systems
• Experience designing for EMI/EMC, thermal performance, and operation in extreme environments
  Strong problem-solving mindset, thriving in a fast-paced, hardware-rich, high flight cadence environment

Benefits And Perks

All full-time employees are granted meaningful long-term equity, sharing in the company's significant growth trajectory. We offer four weeks of paid time off, ten company-paid holidays, and comprehensive health benefits—including 100% employee-covered medical and strong dependent coverage, along with dental and vision plans. We also provide paid parental leave to support growing families, a $100 monthly fitness stipend to promote health and performance, and onsite EV charging for convenience. In addition, employees enjoy perks such as catered meals, company-covered food during high-demand periods, and a fully stocked kitchen to stay fueled throughout the day.

While this position does not currently require a U.S. government-issued security clearance, it may in the near future. Therefore, the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government‑issued security clearance is required. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.

Affirmative Action/EEO Statement

Employment with Castelion is governed on the basis of competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.