Electrical Engineer - Avionics
Electrical Engineer - Avionics at Wardstone — Los Angeles, CA, US
- Company: Wardstone
- Location: Los Angeles, CA, US
- Employment type: FULL_TIME
- Salary: USD 100000–160000 / year
- Posted: 2026-07-17
About this role
We are looking for a hands-on Electrical Engineer to lead the development of high-reliability electronics for our interceptor prototypes and future VLEO satellites. You will own everything from board-level design to power systems, sensor integration, EMI/EMC, and flight hardware integration. Expect to work directly with founders, integrate components, run tests, and ship hardware that flies and intercepts targets.
If you’re excited by high-stakes engineering, rapid prototyping, and pushing physics boundaries, we are going to get along great!
What You’ll Do
Electrical Design & Prototyping
Design, simulate, and develop PCBs for sensing, actuation, power, and avionics.
Own schematic capture, layout, DFM, component selection, and vendor interaction.
Develop high-reliability power systems (DC–DC, battery systems, protection circuits, transient management).
Sensor and Actuator Solutions
Integrate IR cameras, Radar, IMUs, GNSS, rad-hard components, and electromechanical actuators.
Develop signal-conditioning circuits, sensor fusion interfaces, and low-latency sensing+actuation to enable the autopilot to control the vehicle.
Flight Hardware & Harsh-Environment Design
Perform thermal, vibration, and shock analysis for >100km altitude environments.
Support hardware qualification: TVAC, vibe, EMI/EMC, and high-G ground testing.
Embedded & System Integration
Collaborate closely with embedded software engineers on microcontroller architectures, drivers, and electrical-firmware interfaces.
Bring-up, debug, test, and iterate hardware in the lab using scopes, logic analyzers, DAQs, etc.
Execution & Ownership
Write requirements, test plans, and documentation.
Take hardware from concept → prototype → test → flight-ready.
Rapid debugging and converging on functional+performant solutions.
Required Qualifications
B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.
Strong experience with PCB design tools (KiCad, Altium, or similar).
Hands-on prototyping experience: soldering, rework, bring-up, rapid iteration.
Experience integrating sensors, mixed-signal electronics, or power systems.
Comfort with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and test equipment.
Strong fundamentals in circuit analysis, signal integrity, noise, grounding, and EMI/EMC.
Ability to own hardware end-to-end: design, build, test, debug, iterate.
US CITIZENSHIP REQUIRED
Nice to Haves
Experience with IR cameras, high-speed digital buses, or RF systems.
Background in aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomous systems, automotive, or satellites.
Knowledge of high-G design, radiation effects, or space-environment electronics.
Embedded firmware experience (C/C++, STM32/Teensy/PIC/ESP32, RTOS).
Familiarity with power systems, motor drives, or actuator control.
Experience with MIL-STD-461, DO-160, or NASA/ESA flight hardware standards.