About the RoleWe're looking for an
Avionics Test Engineer, Hardware to join our growing test team.
In this role, you'll focus on developing the test hardware, infrastructure, and platforms used to ensure our spacecraft hardware is built and performs to specification. You'll work closely with electrical, mechanical, RF, software, and systems engineers to establish test requirements, develop test strategies, and troubleshoot flight hardware throughout development, qualification, production, and integration.
This is a highly hands-on role for an engineer who is comfortable owning technical work independently, enjoys working directly with flight hardware and integrated test environments, and wants to have a significant impact on how Apex tests spacecraft at scale.
Responsibilities:Technical Work- Own the design, build, integration, and maintenance of bus-level and component-level avionics test racks, including harness design, rack component selection, circuit design, and test infrastructure.
- Develop and maintain FlatSats and avionics testbeds, including electrical interfaces, emulators, EGSE, harnessing, and supporting infrastructure.
- Lead hardware integration activities including harnessing, fixturing, rack integration, and mechanical/electrical interface validation.
- Define test architecture and strategies in collaboration with electrical, mechanical, RF, software, and systems engineering teams.
- Troubleshoot flight hardware and test setup failures using laboratory instrumentation including oscilloscopes, multimeters, power supplies, DAQ systems, VNAs, and vector signal analyzers/generators.
- Perform hardware bring-up, interface validation, signal integrity troubleshooting, and end-to-end system checkout.
- Develop test fixtures, breakout boxes, interface electronics, and other custom test hardware as needed.
- Support component qualification, acceptance, regression, and spacecraft-level testing.
- Investigate test failures and hardware anomalies, determine root cause, and work with responsible engineering teams to drive issues to resolution.
- Improve test infrastructure and processes to increase coverage, reliability, repeatability, and throughput.
Required Qualifications:- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.
- 5+ years of professional experience in aerospace hardware, avionics, electronics, or integrated hardware testing.
- Hands-on experience with laboratory instrumentation and hardware bring-up.
- Experience troubleshooting integrated electrical systems and complex test setups.
- Strong understanding of hardware integration, verification, and validation workflows.
- Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, interface control documents, and technical requirements.
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to independently drive technical issues to resolution.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Must be a U.S. Person (U.S. Citizen or Green Card holder) in accordance with ITAR requirements.
Preferred Qualifications:- Experience integrating or testing spacecraft, launch vehicles, avionics, or other flight electronics.
- Experience with:
- Harness design and fabrication
- Test fixturing
- Environmental testing
- Vibration testing
- Component acceptance and qualification testing
- Experience in fast-paced aerospace production, manufacturing, or integration environments.
- Experience designing PCBs or developing prototype electronics.
- Experience conducting sensor functional testing, avionics channelization, or electrical interface validation.
- Familiarity with embedded communication interfaces such as CAN, RS-422/485, UART, SPI, I2C, or Ethernet.
- Basic Python or scripting experience for test support, data collection, and automation.
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Ready to join a team where your contributions matter and your future is bright? Let's build something extraordinary together.
