Senior Spaceflight Automation & Controls Engineer

Varda Space Industries; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 179,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Long-term cash awards

Job summary

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, CA, seeks a Senior Automation & Controls Engineer to design, build, and own bespoke test infrastructure for spaceflight hardware qualification and manufacturing. You will develop ground support equipment, integration test systems, and a modern PLC-based stack with Beckhoff EtherCAT tooling.

Join a fast-paced startup environment where you influence architecture decisions, push hard real-time control, and collaborate with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, or related technical field.
• 5+ years of industry experience in test automation, controls, and/or industrial automation.
• Hands-on experience integrating with industrial hardware over EtherCAT, Modbus (TCP/RTU), RS-232/485 or similar.
• Experience with Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 with structured text (IEC 61131-3) or eagerness to develop deep expertise there.
• Comfort across the full stack: electrical panels, wiring cabinets, debugging hardware, and writing control software.
• Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup with end-to-end ownership of problems.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain test systems and ground support equipment (GSE) for flight hardware qualification and manufacturing operations.
• Integrate with external hardware (thermal vacuum chambers, ovens, chillers, pressure systems, data acquisition, instrumentation).
• Develop and extend Varda's internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling for evolving program needs.
• Contribute to architecture decisions on real-time control; evaluate PLC-based vs Linux-based approaches for high-frequency control.
• Build cabinets, wire panels, and own systems end-to-end from electrical design through commissioning.
• Collaborate with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams to meet aggressive timelines.
• Champion sustainable engineering practices to help new engineers ramp on the stack.

Skills

EtherCAT

Modbus

TwinCAT 3

Structured text

IEC 61131-3

Python orchestration

Hard real-time control

Grafana/InfluxDB

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field

Tools

Beckhoff TwinCAT 3

Electrical panels

Job description

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, CA, seeks a Senior Automation & Controls Engineer to design, build, and own bespoke test infrastructure for spaceflight hardware qualification and manufacturing. You will develop ground support equipment, integration test systems, and a modern PLC-based stack with Beckhoff EtherCAT tooling.

Join a fast-paced startup environment where you influence architecture decisions, push hard real-time control, and collaborate with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and