Spacecraft Avionics Engineer II — Flight-Ready & HITL Focus

vardaspace; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 153,000; Full time

Job summary

Varda is hiring an Avionics Systems Engineer II to lead the design, integration, and testing of avionics for the Winnebago Spaceship. You will ensure readiness for launch and reentry, collaborating across engineering teams and managing tradeoffs to meet mission objectives.

Role involves developing electrical architectures, performing system-level verification, and mentoring junior engineers in a fast-paced, on-site El Segundo environment. Expertise in Python and HITL testing is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field is required.
• 3+ years of system design, test planning and validation experience.
• Proficiency in Python for programming and debugging.
• Experience with power supplies, modular data acquisition systems and test equipment.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross functional teams to define project scopes, guide designs from concept to production.
• Develop electrical architecture, system diagrams, budgets for power, telemetry, channel count, size and mass.
• Analyze architecture for faults, develop mitigation plans, and support FDIR and workarounds.
• Create verification plans for avionics systems on flight and HITL hardware, ensure launch readiness.
• Participate in mission operations as avionics specialist or system operator to monitor health.
• Oversee integration of Winnebago avionics systems and serve as primary contact for system investigations.
• Design, build, and operate HITL testbeds to simulate spacecraft on the ground.
• Develop avionics ground infrastructure and testing racks to power and communicate with flight vehicles.
• Mentor and train new engineers to foster continuous improvement.

Skills

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field

Tools

Power supplies

Modular DAQ systems

RTD

4-20mA devices

HITL testbeds

Unix environments

Job description

Varda is hiring an Avionics Systems Engineer II to lead the design, integration, and testing of avionics for the Winnebago Spaceship. You will ensure readiness for launch and reentry, collaborating across engineering teams and managing tradeoffs to meet mission objectives.

Role involves developing electrical architectures, performing system-level verification, and mentoring junior engineers in a fast-paced, on-site El Segundo environment. Expertise in Python and HITL testing is essential.