Senior Space Avionics Hardware Engineer (Flight‑Critical)

Varda Space Industries; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 203,000; Full time

Job summary

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, CA is seeking a Senior Space Avionics Hardware Development Engineer to design and deliver flight‑critical electrical hardware for our satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and payloads. You will own your hardware domain from schematic capture through flight qualification and define subsystem requirements based on mission goals.

The role requires hands‑on PCB design, high‑speed signaling, power electronics, and collaboration with flight software, thermal, GNC, and

Qualifications

• B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline.
• 5+ years of direct experience designing electronics hardware - schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, and environmental qualification - for aerospace, automotive, or other high-reliability industries.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to complex electronics systems from design to production/deployment.
• Advanced PCB design expertise, knowledge of high speed signal integrity, power and grounding, electromagnetic compatibility.
• Experience taking complex PCB designs through fabrication and assembly.
• Expert user of Altium and/or KiCad EDA suites.
• Strong hands‑on lab experience with electronic test equipment including oscilloscopes, function generators, benchtop digital multimeters, and power supplies.
• Experience programming in Python, MATLAB, or another scripting/data analysis language.
• Demonstrated experience implementing the hardware layer of numerous on‑board and over‑harness communication protocols such as SPI, RS‑422, and 1000BASE‑T.
• Experience designing analog/digital filtering and mixed‑signal circuits.
• Power electronics design experience including load switches and switch mode DC:DC converters.

Responsibilities

• PCB level electronics design at all lifecycle stages, from schematic capture, to layout, to design validation, fabrication/assembly, and manufacturing test.
• Support avionics architecture trade studies, analyses, performance characterization and specification, device selection, and roadmap direction
• Avionics subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload hardware. Providing support to those using your products, namely the Varda GNC, pharmaceutical, mission operations, and integration teams.
• Actively collaborate with cross functional teams such as flight software, thermal, GNC, and structures to determine across vehicle system impacts of design decisions.
• Ownership of product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments (Thermal, Vibe, Shock, TVAC, and EMI) with support from the Avionics Test team.
• Provide direction on system‑level integration test plans to verify your hardware performs as expected at the vehicle level.
• Perform root cause analysis on test failures and implement holistic mitigation strategies for flight risks.
• Mentor junior engineers on their projects, challenges, and design methodologies setting a high bar for the future leaders of Varda.

Skills

High-speed signal integrity

Power electronics

Schematic capture

PCB layout

Python

Oscilloscopes

Education

B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Oscilloscopes

Function generators

Job description

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, CA is seeking a Senior Space Avionics Hardware Development Engineer to design and deliver flight‑critical electrical hardware for our satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and payloads. You will own your hardware domain from schematic capture through flight qualification and define subsystem requirements based on mission goals.

The role requires hands‑on PCB design, high‑speed signaling, power electronics, and collaboration with flight software, thermal, GNC, and