Senior High-Speed Digital Engineer (Space/FPGA)

Second Order Effects; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 155,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity (ISOs)

Equity (PIUs) in incubated companies

Health insurance (medical, dental, and

Paid time off + holidays

401(k) with company match

Relocation assistance

EV charging

Daily catered lunches

Job summary

Second Order Effects is seeking a High Speed Digital Electrical Engineer to work across client programs that demand hardware at the edge of what is commercially possible. You will own high-speed digital PCB design, signal integrity, and FPGA development across diverse programs, from space avionics to embedded computing platforms.

You will work with experienced engineers who have shipped flight hardware, gain direct client exposure, and contribute to the center of SOE's incubation model.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Math, or related field.
• 5+ years of applied engineering experience with a passion for technology development.
• Experience with high-speed test equipment: BERT, VNA, TDR, high-bandwidth oscilloscopes 20 GHz+, and logic analyzers.
• Excellent written and verbal technical communication skills; ability to explain concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Systems-thinking approach connecting engineering execution to business strategy.
• Proven track record leading technical initiatives and mentoring engineers.
• Willingness to be deeply involved in both high-level strategy and hands-on execution.
• Willingness to work on-site in El Segundo, CA.

Responsibilities

• Support high speed electrical architecture from concept through investigation including trades, requirements, and component selection.
• Own signal integrity from component selection through layout and post-route verification: impedance control, diff-pair routing, crosstalk analysis, eye diagrams.
• Collaborate with power electronics engineers to design PDNs for ASICs/FPGAs and manage power budgets from system to regulator selection.
• Develop and execute high-speed board bring-up: BERT testing, TDR characterization, eye mask compliance, and EMC pre-compliance.
• Design in Altium; produce layout-ready packages with full documentation for contract manufacturing.
• Collaborate with clients to translate system requirements into board-level hardware specs; participate in PDR/CDR.
• Mentor junior engineers; contribute to internal reusable design patterns and documentation standards.

Job description

Second Order Effects is seeking a High Speed Digital Electrical Engineer to work across client programs that demand hardware at the edge of what is commercially possible. You will own high-speed digital PCB design, signal integrity, and FPGA development across diverse programs, from space avionics to embedded computing platforms.

You will work with experienced engineers who have shipped flight hardware, gain direct client exposure, and contribute to the center of SOE's incubation model.