Principal Electrical Engineer - Avionics and Command & Data Handling Lead

AscendArc

$195K — $250K *
Aerospace & Defense
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering or related field; 8+ years of experience in spacecraft or high-reliability avionics.
  • Expertise in subsystem-level engineering, including architecture definition and interface control.
  • Proficient in command and data handling encompassing telemetry and command architecture.
  • Experienced in EEE parts selection and derating for space applications.
  • Ability to specify and manage electronic unit procurement effectively.
  • Excellent cross-discipline collaboration skills, especially with electrical, software, and systems leads.
  • Familiarity with GEO communications satellites and ECSS or equivalent space standards is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

  • Lead avionics and Command & Data Handling (C&DH) within the Electrical Engineering team.
  • Architect avionics and C&DH subsystems, making buy-vs-build decisions.
  • Own all avionics and C&DH requirements and documentation.
  • Design in-house electronics, including topology and circuit analysis.
  • Conduct worst-case and derating analysis for EEE components.
  • Support PCB layout, board bring-up, and testing processes.
  • Manage technical procurement of external units, including specifications and supplier reviews.
  • Collaborate with various engineering teams to ensure integrated hardware interfaces.

Benefits

  • Fully remote position available within the U.S.
  • Occasional travel to the Beaverton, OR office for team integrations.
  • Opportunity to be an early member of a groundbreaking satellite communications team.
Full Job Description
Come join us in shaping the future! Get in on the ground floor as an early member of our Electrical Engineering team, working on a revolutionary satellite communications system. Architect the avionics and data handling, design the boards, buy the boxes, then make it all work together.

Responsibilities

  • Lead avionics and Command & Data Handling (C&DH) within the Electrical Engineering team
  • Architect the avionics and C&DH subsystem, including buy-vs-build decisions
  • Own avionics and C&DH requirements, I/O and channel allocation, and interface control documents
  • Design in-house electronics, including topology, component selection, schematics, and circuit analysis
  • Perform worst-case and derating analysis and select EEE parts for a 15-year GEO mission
  • Support PCB layout, board bring-up, debugging, and testing
  • Own technical procurement of externally sourced units, including specifications, SOWs, technical evaluations, supplier design reviews, and acceptance data
  • Partner closely with Flight Software, Systems Engineering, Power, Battery, and other Electrical Engineering leads
  • Own hardware interfaces across power, grounding, bonding, protection, harness, and spacecraft-level integration
  • Work within the Systems Engineering baseline for requirements, interfaces, and technical budgets while owning avionics architecture decisions


Qualifications

  • B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline; 8+ years, including spacecraft or other high-reliability avionics. Hands-on board design - circuits taken from requirements through schematic, analysis, bring-up and test, and you can show what you designed
  • Subsystem-level engineering: architecture definition, requirements flow-down, interface control and resource budgets
  • Command and data handling: on-board computing, telemetry and command architecture, data bus topology, and discrete, analog and serial signal accommodation
  • EEE parts selection and derating for space or another high-reliability domain
  • Specifying and technically managing procured electronics units, including supplier design reviews
  • Comfortable across electrical, software and systems boundaries, and able to reach agreement with subsystem leads
  • Strong plus: GEO communications satellites; FPGA or firmware familiarity; ECSS or equivalent space standards


Location:

Fully remote within the United States

Occasional travel to our Beaverton, OR office may be required for team meetings, integration, and other in-person work

Base Salary

The base salary range for this position is $195,000 to $250,000. When determining an individual's compensation, we consider several factors including skillset, experience, job scope, and current market data, so pay for this role may vary from the amounts listed.

Legal Eligibility to Work

Due to U.S. export control regulations, this position is only open to "U.S. persons." That means you must be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or have refugee/asylee status. Unfortunately, we cannot consider applicants on temporary work visas (such as H-1B, TN, O-1, etc.) for this role.

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