Senior Avionics & C&DH Lead for Spacecraft Systems

Ascend Arc; Beaverton (OR); Remote; USD 195,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

AscendArc is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer — Avionics and Command & Data Handling Lead to shape a satellite communications system. Fully remote within the United States with occasional travel to Beaverton, OR, to align with the hardware team; you will architect avionics, C&D, and own procurement, interfaces, and integration.

You should have 8+ years in high-reliability avionics, board design, and experience with space-grade parts and ECSS-style standards, collaborating with software

Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering; 8+ years in high-reliability avionics.
• Hands-on board design from requirements through schematic, bring-up and test.
• Experience with space-grade parts selection and derating.
• Ability to manage procured electronics units including supplier reviews.
• Strong cross-disciplinary collaboration across electrical, software, and systems.
• Familiarity with GEO missions and 15-year design life is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead avionics and Command & Data Handling (C&DH) within the Electrical Engineering team
• Architect the avionics and C&DH subsystem, including buy-vs-build decisions
• Own avionics and C&DH requirements, I/O and channel allocation, and interface control documents
• Design in-house electronics, including topology, component selection, schematics, and circuit analysis
• Perform worst-case and derating analysis and select EEE parts for a 15-year GEO mission
• Support PCB layout, board bring-up, debugging, and testing
• Own technical procurement of externally sourced units, including specifications, SOWs, technical evaluations, supplier design reviews, and acceptance data
• Partner closely with Flight Software, Systems Engineering, Power, Battery, and other Electrical Engineering leads
• Own hardware interfaces across power, grounding, bonding, protection, harness, and spacecraft-level integration
• Work within the Systems Engineering baseline for requirements, interfaces, and technical budgets while owning avionics architecture decisions

Skills

Board design

Requirements management

System integration

Procurement management

FPGA/firmware

Space standards

High-reliability avionics

Education

B.S./M.S. in Electrical Engineering

Job description

AscendArc is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer — Avionics and Command & Data Handling Lead to shape a satellite communications system. Fully remote within the United States with occasional travel to Beaverton, OR, to align with the hardware team; you will architect avionics, C&D, and own procurement, interfaces, and integration.

You should have 8+ years in high-reliability avionics, board design, and experience with space-grade parts and ECSS-style standards, collaborating with software