Principal Avionics Hardware Development Engineer

<div class="content-intro"><h2><span data-contrast="none">About Varda</span></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. <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.  </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.  </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. </p> <p>Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.</p></div><h2><span data-contrast="auto">About This Role</span><span data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></h2> <p><span data-contrast="auto">As a Principal Avionics Hardware Engineer at Varda, you will be the architect and designer of flight critical electrical hardware for our satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and customer payloads. Some examples include our flight computers, satellite power systems, sensors for navigation and monitoring pharmaceutical manufacturing. 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. </span><span data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="auto">At 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.</span><span data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> <h2><span data-contrast="auto">Responsibilities</span><span data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></h2> <ul> <li><span data-contrast="auto">PCB level electronics design at all lifecycle stages, from schematic capture, to layout, to design validation, fabrication/assembly, and manufacturing test.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Distilling high level company or mission objectives into requirements, designs, and developmental milestones for your subsystems.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Avionics 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.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Actively collaborate with cross functional teams such as flight software, thermal, GNC, and structures to determine across vehicle system impacts of design decisions.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Ownership of product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments (Thermal, Vibe, Shock, TVAC, and EMI) with support from the Avionics Test team.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Provide direction on system-level integration test plans to verify your hardware performs as expected at the vehicle level.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Perform root cause analysis on test failures and implement holistic mitigation strategies for flight risks.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Mentor junior engineers on their projects, challenges, and design methodologies setting a high bar for the future leaders of Varda.</span></li> </ul> <h2><span data-contrast="auto">Basic Qualifications</span></h2> <ul> <li><span data-contrast="auto">B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline.</span></li> <li><span class="TextRun SCXW80751046 BCX0" lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW80751046 BCX0">8+ years of direct experience designing electronics hardware — schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, and environmental qualification across multiple hardware domains..</span></span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Demonstrated experience contributing to complex electronics systems from design to launch (to space or otherwise).</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Demonstrable knowledge of signal integrity, power and grounding board layout principles.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Strong hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, function generators, benchtop digital multimeters, and power supplies.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Experience programming in Python, MATLAB, or another scripting/data analysis language.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Demonstrated experience implementing the hardware layer of numerous on-board and over-harness communication protocols such as SPI, RS422, and 1000BASE-T.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Experience designing analog/digital filtering and mixed-signal circuits.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Power electronics design experience including load switches and switch mode DC:DC converters.</span></li> </ul> <h2>Preferred Skills & Experience</h2> <ul> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Industry leading electronic circuit design and analysis skills.</span></li> <li><span data-contrast="auto">Strong supporting general knowledge in physics, math, and chemistry fundamentals