Senior Space Avionics Hardware Development Engineer

Senior Avionics Hardware Engineer
Principal Avionics Hardware Engineer
Location: Los Angeles, CA (Onsite)
Contract, Contract-to-Hire, or Direct Hire
Compensation: $150k to $210K


Position Summary
Our client is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer to design, develop, and qualify flight-critical electrical hardware supporting spacecraft, reentry vehicles, and payload systems. This engineer will own hardware development throughout the product lifecycle, from requirements definition and schematic capture through environmental qualification, integration, testing, and flight support.
The ideal candidate combines strong PCB and mixed-signal design expertise with hands-on hardware validation experience in aerospace, defense, automotive, or other high-reliability environments.
Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of electronics hardware development experience in aerospace, defense, automotive, or other high-reliability industries.
• Experience designing complex electronic systems from concept through production deployment.
• Advanced PCB design expertise including:
  • High-speed digital design
  • Signal integrity analysis
  • Power distribution networks
  • Grounding strategies
  • EMI/EMC mitigation
• Experience supporting PCB fabrication, assembly, and manufacturing processes.
• Expert-level proficiency with:
  • Altium Designer
  • KiCad
• Strong laboratory debugging and validation experience utilizing:
  • Oscilloscopes
  • Function Generators
  • Digital Multimeters
  • Power Supplies
• Experience developing scripts and automation tools using Python, MATLAB, or similar languages.
• Experience implementing hardware communication protocols including:
  • SPI
  • RS-422
  • 1000BASE-T Ethernet
• Strong analog, digital, and mixed-signal circuit design experience.
• Experience with power electronics including:
  • DC-DC Converters
  • Power Distribution
  • Load Switch Design

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop spacecraft avionics hardware through all phases of the product lifecycle including schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, validation, manufacturing, and production support.
• Support avionics architecture development, trade studies, component selection, roadmap planning, and system performance analysis.
• Serve as a technical subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload hardware systems.
• Collaborate with Flight Software, GNC, Thermal, Structures, Manufacturing, and Integration teams to ensure successful system-level implementation.
• Own environmental qualification and acceptance testing including:
  • Thermal Testing
  • Vibration Testing
  • Shock Testing
  • Thermal Vacuum (TVAC)
  • EMI/EMC Testing
• Support vehicle-level integration testing and verification activities.
• Conduct failure investigations, root cause analysis, and corrective action implementation.
• Support mission operations teams with hardware performance assessments and operational trade studies.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to engineering best practices.

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