{"id":3194523,"url":"https://alion.io/job/varda-space-industries-senior-spacecraft-avionics-hardware-development-engineer","title":"Senior Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer","company":{"id":58875,"name":"Varda Space Industries","domain":"varda.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/varda-space-industries","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":80,"open_postings":24,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":6,"computed_at":"2026-10-28T05:59:10Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["El Segundo, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":140333,"max":202703,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":202703},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"KiCad","optional":false},{"name":"MATLAB","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-24T01:01:51Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-24","last_verified_at":"2026-10-28T13:17:18Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":4,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":4},"description":"About Varda\nLow Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.\nFrom life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind. \nOur team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital. \nVarda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. \nJoin Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.\nAbout This Role \nAs a Senior Spacecraft Avionics Hardware Development Engineer at Varda, you will design and deliver flight-critical electrical hardware for our satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and customer payloads - owning your hardware domain from schematic capture through flight qualification. You will define subsystem requirements based on high level mission and company objectives, design to those requirements, and ensure the system as manufactured meets those requirements. In addition to designing and building electrical hardware, you will define its safe operating criteria and support our mission operations team on the risk tradeoffs of operating near the bounds of those criteria. \nAt Varda, we believe that the trip to space and back is the easiest trip our hardware takes. We stress our components above and beyond the levels it should expect to see in flight and investigate our failures thoroughly. \nResponsibilities \nPCB level electronics design at all lifecycle stages, from schematic capture, to layout, to design validation, fabrication/assembly, and manufacturing test. \nSupport avionics architecture trade studies, analyses, performance characterization and specification, device selection, and roadmap direction\nAvionics subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload hardware. Providing support to those using your products, namely the Varda GNC, pharmaceutical, mission operations, and integration teams. \nActively collaborate with cross functional teams such as flight software, thermal, GNC, and structures to determine across vehicle system impacts of design decisions.\nOwnership of product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments (Thermal, Vibe, Shock, TVAC, and EMI) with support from the Avionics Test team.\nProvide direction on system-level integration test plans to verify your hardware performs as expected at the vehicle level.\nPerform root cause analysis on test failures and implement holistic mitigation strategies for flight risks.\nMentor junior engineers on their projects, challenges, and design methodologies setting a high bar for the future leaders of Varda. \nBasic Qualifications\nB.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline. \n5+ years of direct experience designing electronics hardware - schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, and environmental qualification - for aerospace, automotive, or other high-reliability industries.\nDemonstrated experience contributing to complex electronics systems from design to production/deployment.\nAdvanced PCB design expertise, knowledge of high speed signal integrity, power and grounding, electromagnetic compatibility.\nExperience taking complex PCB designs through fabrication and assembly.\nExpert user of Altium and/or KiCad EDA suites.\nStrong hands-on lab experience with electronic test equipment including oscilloscopes, function generators, benchtop digital multimeters, and power supplies.\nExperience programming in Python, MATLAB, or another scripting/data analysis language.\nDemonstrated experience implementing the hardware layer of numerous on-board and over-harness communication protocols such as SPI, RS-422, and 1000BASE-T.\nExperience designing analog/digital filtering and mixed-signal circuits.\nPower electronics design experience including load switches and switch mode DC:DC converters.\nPreferred Skills & Experience\nIndustry leading electronic circuit design and analysis skills.\nStrong supporting general knowledge in physics, math, and chemistry fundamentals for designing electronics that experience unique environments.\nUnderstanding of aerospace sensor and actuator technologies including: RTDs, pressure transducers, brushless motors, solenoid valves, thermocouples, stepper motors, and rotary/linear Encoders.\nPay Range\nSalary range: $140,333 - $202,703/per year\nThis role is on-site in El Segundo, CA\nLeveling and base salary is determined by job-related skills, education level, experience level, and job performance\nYou will be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards\nITAR Requirements\nVarda, like all employers, must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally, our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items, our policy is to only hire “U.S. persons” who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.\n“US person” means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e., individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum).\nE-Verify Statement\nVarda Space Industries, Inc. participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program. The E-Verify program is an Internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Learn more about the E-Verify program.\nE-Verify Notice Right To Work Notice\nRead more Read more\nVarda Space Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Candidates and employees are always evaluated based on merit, qualifications, and performance. We will never discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, martial status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7102,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Stock options"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Satellite Manufacturing","Space Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-24T03:47:43Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":45,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.594,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":4,"expected_fill_days":6,"reasons":["conf:2","stale_co","velocity","win:late","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-28T05:59:10Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":202703,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/varda-space-industries-senior-spacecraft-avionics-hardware-development-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/varda-space-industries-senior-spacecraft-avionics-hardware-development-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-28T17:05:57Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":23225,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-29T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":58875},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=58875"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fvarda-space-industries-senior-spacecraft-avionics-hardware-development-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fvarda-space-industries-senior-spacecraft-avionics-hardware-development-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fvarda-space-industries-senior-spacecraft-avionics-hardware-development-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/varda-space-industries-senior-spacecraft-avionics-hardware-development-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fvarda-space-industries-senior-spacecraft-avionics-hardware-development-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3194523}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"varda.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3194523},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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