We are hiring a Head of Electrical & Avionics Engineering who will own Portal's spacecraft electrical and avionics function including electrical architecture, power generation and distribution, RF/communications hardware, sensors, actuators, board-level electronics, avionics interfaces, and EMI/EMC technical ownership. This role will function as the authority for electrical and avionics engineering as Portal scales. You will work closely with Systems Engineering, Software/GNC/Autonomy, Systems Integration & Test, Vehicle Design, Build/Integration/Test, Propulsion, Flight Dynamics, and Chief Engineers to ensure electrical and avionics designs support vehicle-level requirements, integration, verification, and mission closure. Core Responsibilities Electrical & Avionics Architecture • Own spacecraft electrical and avionics architecture across vehicle programs, including power generation, energy storage interfaces, power distribution, command/data interfaces, RF/communications hardware, sensors, actuators, and avionics control interfaces. • Define electrical architecture trades in partnership with Chief Engineers, Systems Engineering, Software/GNC/Autonomy, Flight Dynamics, Propulsion, and Vehicle Design. • Own technical decisions for avionics hardware architecture, power management, board-level design, RF/communications interfaces, harnessing, and electrical integration boundaries. • Establish electrical design standards, interface expectations, grounding/bonding approaches, EMI/EMC design practices, electrical margin philosophy, and hardware review expectations. • Ensure avionics and electrical designs are compatible with vehicle-level configuration, integration flow, environmental test, acceptance test, and launch operations. Power, RF, Boards, Sensors, and Interfaces • Lead technical ownership of spacecraft EPS and power generation systems, including power budgets, distribution architecture, load management, battery/energy storage interfaces, and power behavior during mission-critical operations. • Own RF and TT&C electrical hardware interfaces in coordination with Systems Engineering, Software/GNC/Autonomy, Flight Dynamics, and mission/customer stakeholders. • Lead board design ownership, including schematics, layout coordination, component selection, bring-up, firmware-adjacent hardware interfaces, and production release support. • Own sensor and actuator electrical interfaces, including signal integrity, compatibility with flight software and GNC needs, integration constraints, and verification approach. • Define and mature harnessing, connector, grounding, shielding, and avionics enclosure requirements in partnership with Vehicle Design and Systems Integration & Test. Verification, Integration, and Test Support • Partner with Systems Engineering to define electrical and avionics verification methods, interface control documentation, test coverage, and requirement closure logic. • Partner with Systems Integration & Test on flatsat, HITL, EGSE, hardware/software/mechanical bring-up, interface checkouts, integrated debug, and cross-functional defect triage. Your org model separates Systems Engineering as the control process owner from SIT as the integrated bring-up owner, so this role should feed both cleanly. • Own electrical readiness for vehicle-level integration, power-on testing, board bring-up, RF checkout, harness continuity, electrical functional test, and EMI/EMC-related troubleshooting. • Support anomaly investigations, nonconformance disposition, root-cause analysis, and corrective actions involving avionics hardware, power systems, RF, sensors, actuators, harnessing, or electrical interfaces. • Ensure electrical and avionics work products are released, reviewed, and controlled in a way that supports program configuration and Chief Engineer closure. Functional Leadership & Team Development • Build and manage the Electrical & Avionics team, including hardware architecture, power management, board design, RF/communications, harness/interface ownership, and hardware integration support. • Define team priorities, staffing plans, review cadences, technical standards, and execution rhythms consistent with Portal's flat functional organization. • Hire, manage, coach, and develop electrical and avionics engineers while maintaining clear ownership of technical quality, execution, and staffing. • Create the functional infrastructure needed for a fast-moving spacecraft startup: design reviews, release standards, component selection practices, test readiness criteria, bring-up checklists, and lessons-learned loops. You will also coordinate with other functional leaders to stay ahead of engineering challenges and drive a culture of proactive collaboration. What You Bring To Portal • Ability to define and communicate spacecraft electrical and avionics architecture across power, RF, boards, sensors, actuators, harnessing, and embedded hardware interfaces. • Strong technical judgment in electrical design trades, power budgeting, signal integrity, grounding/bonding, EMI/EMC, component selection, board design, and hardware integration. • Ability to lead technical reviews and make clear decisions under schedule pressure while maintaining strong cross-functional collaboration with other engineering teams, Chief Engineers, and Program leadership. • Ability to translate vehicle-level requirements into actionable electrical designs, interface definitions, verification plans, and test approaches. • Ability to mentor engineers, set priorities, resolve technical conflicts, and maintain accountability for team output. • Clear written and verbal communication for design reviews, anomaly investigations, test readiness reviews, and executive/program-level technical discussions. Basic Qualifications • Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience. • Experience leading electrical, avionics, or hardware engineering for spacecraft, launch vehicles, satellites, aircraft, robotics, defense systems, or other complex embedded hardware systems. • Experience owning or contributing to system-level electrical architecture, including power distribution, avionics hardware, sensors, actuators, RF/communications, boards, harnessing, and electrical interfaces. • Experience designing, reviewing, releasing, integrating, and testing board-level electronics or avionics hardware. • Experience hiring and managing engineers, technical leads, or cross-functional hardware teams. Preferred Qualifications • Experience with electrical integration, hardware bring-up, system test, environmental test, EMI/EMC troubleshooting, or hardware/software integration. • Experience working across Systems Engineering, mechanical design, software, GNC, test, manufacturing/build, and program leadership. • Familiarity with spacecraft or aerospace development practices, including requirements flowdown, ICDs, design reviews, qualification/acceptance testing, and configuration-controlled hardware release.