Senior Electrical Engineer, UAV Systems & Flight Test

AeroVironment, Inc.; Hood River (OR); On-site; USD 112,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401K with company matching

9/80 work schedule

Paid holiday shutdown

Job summary

AeroVironment, Inc. in Hood River, OR is seeking a Sr. Electrical Engineer to design, develop and maintain electrical control systems for unmanned aircraft.

You will select components, perform detailed design and testing, and contribute to reliability and safety across UAV subsystems. The role requires 8–12 years of hands-on experience, proficiency with Altium Designer, RF and FPGA work, and power electronics knowledge. Travel up to 30% for flight tests is expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 8–12 years of relevant experience.
• Proficient with office software and engineering productivity tools.
• Experienced using Altium Designer for schematic capture and PCB layout.
• Experienced in RF, embedded control, FPGA.
• Experience with power electronics including motors and battery tech.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex systems.
• Familiarity with LVDS, I2C, HDMI, UART, SPI, CAN, USB protocols.
• Willingness to travel up to 30% for flight tests.

Responsibilities

• Operate CAD/engineering software to perform tasks and support R&D projects.
• Coordinate manufacturing, installation, testing, and documentation to meet specs.
• Inspect installations for conformance to design and safety standards.
• Collaborate with avionics, embedded systems, and RF teams; support Flight Test ops.
• Troubleshoot complex systems; document designs with drawings and descriptions.
• Lead design and analysis tasks; may help budget and cost estimation; research alternative solutions.
• Provide technical supervision across disciplines; lead small teams or projects.

Skills

RF

FPGA

Power electronics

HDL programming

Troubleshooting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium Designer

Job description

AeroVironment, Inc. in Hood River, OR is seeking a Sr. Electrical Engineer to design, develop and maintain electrical control systems for unmanned aircraft.

You will select components, perform detailed design and testing, and contribute to reliability and safety across UAV subsystems. The role requires 8–12 years of hands-on experience, proficiency with Altium Designer, RF and FPGA work, and power electronics knowledge. Travel up to 30% for flight tests is expected.