Senior Avionics Hardware Development Engineer

<h2>About Varda</h2>

<p>Low 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.&nbsp;<strong>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.</strong></p>

<p>From 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. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Our 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. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Varda 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.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.</p><h2>About This Role&nbsp;</h2>

<p>As a Senior 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. &nbsp;</p>

<p>At Varda, we believe that the trip to space and back is the easiest trip our hardware takes. We stress our components&nbsp;above and beyond&nbsp;the levels it should expect to see in flight and investigate our failures thoroughly.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Responsibilities&nbsp;</h2>

<ul>

<li>PCB level electronics design at all lifecycle stages, from schematic capture, to layout, to design validation,&nbsp;fabrication/assembly,&nbsp;and manufacturing test.&nbsp;</li>

<li>Distilling high level company or mission&nbsp;objectives&nbsp;into requirements, designs, and developmental milestones for&nbsp;your subsystems.</li>

<li>Avionics subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload&nbsp;hardware. Providing support to those using your products, namely the Varda GNC, pharmaceutical, mission operations, and integration teams.&nbsp;</li>

<li>Actively collaborate with cross functional teams such as flight software, thermal, GNC, and structures to&nbsp;determine&nbsp;across vehicle&nbsp;system&nbsp;impacts of design decisions.</li>

<li>Ownership of product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments (Thermal, Vibe, Shock, TVAC, and EMI) with support from the Avionics Test team.</li>

<li>Provide direction on system-level integration test plans to verify your hardware performs as expected at the vehicle level.</li>

<li>Perform root cause analysis on test failures and implement holistic mitigation strategies for flight risks.</li>

<li>Mentor junior engineers on their projects, challenges, and design methodologies setting a high bar for the future leaders of Varda.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>

</ul>

<h2>Basic Qualifications</h2>

<ul>

<li>B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline. &nbsp;</li>

<li>5+ years of direct experience in electronics hardware development.&nbsp;</li>

<li>Demonstrated experience designing and delivering flight-critical electrical hardware — schematic capture through environmental qualification — on programs where hardware physically flew or was qualified for flight.</li>

<li>Demonstrable knowledge&nbsp;of signal integrity,&nbsp;power&nbsp;and&nbsp;grounding&nbsp;board layout principles.&nbsp;</li>

<li>Strong hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, function generators, benchtop digital multimeters, and power supplies.&nbsp;</li>

<li>Experience programming in Python, MATLAB, or another scripting/data analysis language.&nbsp;</li>

<li>Demonstrated experience implementing the hardware layer of numerous on-board and over-harness communication protocols such as SPI, RS422, and 1000BASE-T.</li>

<li>Experience designing&nbsp;analog/digital filtering&nbsp;and&nbsp;mixed-signal circuits.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>

<li>Power electronics design experience&nbsp;including&nbsp;load switches and switch mode&nbsp;DC:DC&nbsp;converters.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Preferred Skills &amp; Experience</h2>

<ul>

<li>Industry leading electronic circuit design and analysis skills.</li>

<li>Strong supporting general knowledge in physics, math, and chemistry fundamentals for designing electronics that experience unique environments.</li>

<li>Understanding of aerospace sensor and actuator technologies including: RTDs, pressure transducers, brushless motors, solenoid valves, thermocouples, stepper motors, and rotary/linear Encoders.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Pay Range</h2>

<ul>

<li>Salary range: $140,333 - $179,314/per year&nbsp; &nbsp;</li>

<li>This role is&nbsp;on-site<strong>&nbsp;</strong>in El Segundo, CA</li>

<li>Leveling and base salary is determined by job-related skills, education level, experience level, and job performance</li>

<li>You will be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards</li>

</ul>

<h2>Benefits</h2>

<p>Varda offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support health, financial well‑being, and a high‑quality workplace experience. Below is an overview of what full‑time employees receive&nbsp;(at this time, interns receive a subset of benefits):&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Health &amp; Wellness</strong>&nbsp;</p>

<ul>

<li>Flexible PTO policy +&nbsp;12 paid holidays&nbsp;</li>

<li>100% company-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance plans for employees and dependents with FSA and employer-matched HSA options</li>

<li>Voluntary&nbsp;accident, hospital, critical illness,&nbsp;and&nbsp;pet insurance&nbsp;</li>

<li>$120/month wellness reimbursement for gym and fitness expenses&nbsp;</li>

<li>12&nbsp;weeks of&nbsp;parental leave&nbsp;(with supplemental disability leave&nbsp;for CA&nbsp;mothers)&nbsp;</li>

<li>Family building, pregnancy,&nbsp;parenting&nbsp;and menopause&nbsp;benefits&nbsp;via Maven Clinic&nbsp;</li>

<li>Sponsored&nbsp;One Medical&nbsp;memberships for employees and their dependents&nbsp;</li>

</ul>

<p><strong>Financial &amp; Retirement</strong>&nbsp;</p>

<ul>

<li>Substantial incentive equity&nbsp;in a fully funded space start-up&nbsp;</li>

<li>401(k) retirement plan with 6% employer match (immediately vested)</li>

<li>$20/pay period cell phone reimbursement&nbsp;</li>

<li>Relocation support&nbsp;for new hires, if needed&nbsp;</li>

</ul>

<p><strong>Workplace Experience &amp; Perks</strong>&nbsp;</p>

<ul>

<li>Fully stocked kitchen </li></ul>