Lead Electrical Engineer

Starcloud

$200K — $250K *
Aerospace & Defense
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • BS in Electrical, Computer, or Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent experience.
  • 8+ years of hands-on electrical engineering including design, analysis, hardware development, integration, and test.
  • Expertise in power electronics, power distribution, batteries, solar arrays, and avionics interfaces.
  • Proven history of delivering reliable and manufacturable electrical hardware on schedule.
  • Ability to manage engineers while maintaining a hands-on approach.
  • Thrives in a fast-paced, iterative development environment with a focus on unconventional designs.

Responsibilities

  • Own the electrical architecture of spacecraft including power generation and distribution.
  • Lead power system trades, optimizing for performance, mass, cost, reliability, and schedule.
  • Rapidly prototype and test novel architectures on the ground and in orbit.
  • Deliver flight hardware from concept through design to launch.
  • Conduct electrical testing at board, subsystem, and spacecraft levels, improving designs with test data.
  • Build and mentor the electrical engineering team, establishing standards and workflows.
  • Collaborate across multiple engineering functions to integrate design efforts.

Benefits

  • Competitive salary and benefits package including stock options and bonuses.
  • Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance.
  • 401(k) plan with company match.
  • Disability and life insurance coverage.
  • Paid parental leave and generous vacation policy.
  • Sick leave and holidays included.
Full Job Description
The role

You'll own the electrical architecture, design, analysis, testing, and flight execution of every electrical system on our spacecraft. It's a hands-on leadership role: deep individual technical contribution plus building and leading the electrical engineering team. You'll have real freedom to pursue novel architectures, test them fast on the ground, and validate them in orbit, on a problem that genuinely requires new solutions.
What you'll do
  • Own the electrical architecture: power generation, storage, distribution, conversion, avionics, compute interfaces, harnessing, and grounding across spacecraft and payloads.
  • Lead the hard trades: power architecture, battery sizing, solar array interfaces, power conversion, redundancy, fault protection, and avionics integration, optimized across performance, mass, cost, reliability, and schedule.
  • Push novel architectures: prototype rapidly, test on the ground, validate in orbit.
  • Deliver flight hardware end to end: concept through design, procurement, manufacturing, integration, test, qualification, and launch.
  • Own electrical test: board, subsystem, and spacecraft level, and turn test data and on-orbit telemetry into better designs across successive spacecraft.
  • Build the team: hire, manage, and mentor the electrical engineering team, and set the standards, design-review practices, and verification workflows.
  • Partner cross-functionally: mechanical, thermal, avionics, software, systems, manufacturing, test, and operations.
What we're looking for
  • BS in Electrical, Computer, or Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent experience.
  • 8+ years of hands-on electrical engineering: design, analysis, hardware development, integration, and test.
  • Deep command of power electronics, power distribution, batteries, solar arrays, grounding, EMI/EMC, harnessing, and avionics interfaces.
  • A track record delivering electrical hardware optimized for performance, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and schedule.
  • Comfortable managing engineers while staying deeply hands-on.
  • You thrive in fast, highly iterative hardware development, with an appetite for unconventional designs and disciplined engineering under uncertainty.
Nice to have
  • Experience formally leading an electrical engineering team.
  • Spacecraft electrical hardware, or other mission-critical hardware that has survived a harsh environment.
  • High-power systems: spacecraft or data center power, automotive power electronics, grid-scale power, industrial controls, robotics, aviation, or defense.
  • Hands-on PCB development, harness fabrication, connector selection, EMI/EMC control, and integration under real manufacturing constraints.
Eligibility

This role requires access to information controlled under U.S. export laws. Candidates must be a U.S. person (citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual) under ITAR/EAR.
Compensation and benefits

Annual salary: $200,000 - $250,000 USD

Starcloud offers a competitive salary and benefits package, including stock options, discretionary bonuses, medical, vision, dental, 401(k) with company match, disability and life insurance, paid parental leave, vacation, holidays, and sick leave.
Don't quite fit?

If this isn't an exact match but you're exceptional at what you do, tell us what you'd own and why Starcloud, and apply anyway.

Additional Requirements:
  • Willingness to work extended hours and weekends as necessary to support critical project milestones.
  • Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or eligible for authorization under U.S. export regulations.

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