Senior Electronics & Avionics Engineer

6w1 month ago

VAST

Long Beach, US · Full-time · $137,760 – $195,552

About this role

Vast is seeking a Senior Electronics & Avionics Engineer to own avionics development for a new constellation-ready spacecraft bus. This product line is designed to scale to hundreds of spacecraft per year. The avionics suite spans actuator controllers, power management electronics, high-speed payload interfaces, and sensor front-ends.

You will own every in-house development end-to-end from make or buy decisions through flight hardware delivery. Multiple box developments run in parallel on tight timelines. This places the role on the critical path for the entire satellite.

The position requires coordinating with radiation test partners to qualify components through proton and heavy ion testing. You will define environmental test requirements and oversee harness design while interfacing with the Haven-1 avionics team.

As the product line scales from the first 10-satellite build to hundreds per year, you will drive the transition from prototype to production. Board designs must support high-rate manufacturing and environmental qualification.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline
8+ years of electronics or avionics design experience in aerospace or defense
3+ years owning hardware development programs end-to-end
Designed and delivered space-qualified avionics boxes through full lifecycle including prototype, environmental test, and flight build
Strong PCBA design skills for schematic, layout, and component selection in IPC Class 3 space applications
Experience with radiation testing and rad-tolerant or rad-hard design approaches
Managed parallel hardware developments on tight timelines
Familiar with environmental qualification per SMC-S-016 or HALT/HASS

Responsibilities

Drive make, buy, or reuse decisions for all avionics boxes
Own all in-house box developments end-to-end from kickoff through flight build and ATP/QTP
Manage PCBA critical path including schematic capture, layout, procurement, fabrication, and conformal coating
Own board bring-up and functional checkouts for all developed hardware
Coordinate with radiation test partners to qualify components via proton and heavy ion testing
Define environmental test requirements for box-level qualification per SMC-S-016 or HALT/HASS
Oversee harness design and ensure cross-program alignment with the Haven-1 avionics team
Design boards for production scaling to hundreds of spacecraft per year