Senior Avionics Hardware Development Engineer

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX Blue Origin major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures Lux Capital Founders Fund Caffeinated Capital General Catalyst and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo California where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles equipment and materials are built integrated and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington DC and Huntsville AL.

Join Varda and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About this role

As aPrincipalAvionics Hardware Engineer at Varda youwill be thearchitectand designer offlight criticalelectrical hardwarefor oursatellite busreentryvehicle and customer examples include our flight computerssatellite power systemssensors for navigation andmonitoringpharmaceutical willdefinesubsystemrequirementsbased on high level mission and companyobjectivesdesigntothose requirements and ensurethe system asmanufacturedmeetsthose addition to designing and buildingelectricalhardware youwill defineitssafe operating criteria andsupport our mission operations teamon the risk tradeoffs of operatingnearthe bounds of those criteria.

At Varda we believe that the trip to space and back is the easiest trip our hardware takes. We stress our componentsabove and beyondthe levels it should expect to see in flight and investigate our failures thoroughly.

Responsibilities

• PCB level electronics design at all lifecycle stages from schematic capture to layout to design validationfabrication/assemblyand manufacturing test.

• Distilling high level company or missionobjectivesinto requirements designs and developmental milestones foryour subsystems.

• Avionics subject matter expert for satellite reentry vehicle and payloadhardware. 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 todetermineacross vehiclesystemimpacts 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.

• Providedirectionon system-levelintegrationtest plans to verifyyour hardwareperforms 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.

BasicQualifications:

• B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline.

• 5 years of direct experience in electronics hardware development.

• Demonstrated experience contributing to complex electronics systems from design to launch (to space or otherwise).

• Demonstrable knowledgeof signal integritypowerandgroundingboard layout principles.

• Strong hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes function generators benchtop digital multimeters and power supplies.

• Experience programming in Python MATLAB or another scripting/data analysis language.

• Demonstrated experience implementingthehardwarelayerofnumerouson-board andover-harnesscommunication protocolssuch asSPI RS422and1000BASE-T.

• Experience designinganalog/digital filteringandmixed-signal circuits.

• Power electronics design experienceincludingload switches and switch modeDC:DCconverters.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Industry leading electronic circuit design and analysis skills

• Strong supporting general knowledge in physics math and chemistry fundamentals for designing electronics that experience unique environments

• Understanding of aerospace sensor and actuator technologies including: RTDs pressure transducers brushless motors solenoid valves thermocouples stepper motors and rotary/linear Encoders.

Pay Range:

• Salary range: $160-$200K
• This role ison-sitein El Segundo CA
• Leveling and base salary is determined by job-related skills education level experience level and job performance
• You will be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards
  
  

• Varda like all employers must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. At present some of our technology to which employees have access requires a license to be exported to individuals other than U.S. Persons as defined in U.S. export regulations. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items our current policy is to only hire U.S. persons who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.

  US person means: U.S. citizen U.S. lawful permanent resident or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e. individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum in the U.S.)

  Learn more about the ITAR here.

Benefits