Vast Senior Avionics Engineer at Vast supporting the Lunar Program, responsible for flight avionics hardware design and integration. Define avionics architecture and lead development, qualification, and testing of lunar vehicle avionics.
Responsibilities
Serve as Responsible Engineer for avionics subsystems and components, owning requirements, design, analysis, build, test, and flight readiness
Define and develop avionics architecture for lunar vehicles and systems, including flight computers, power distribution, data handling, communications, sensors, and harnessing
Design and develop flight electronics, including schematic capture, PCB layout oversight, component selection, and box-level design, with attention to radiation, thermal, and environmental constraints beyond LEO
Write and manage avionics requirements and interface control documents, and work closely with GNC, flight software, propulsion, power, thermal, and structures teams to close interfaces
Lead design reviews (CoDR, PDR, CDR) and present technical trades, analyses, and risks to program and engineering leadership
Plan and execute development, qualification, and acceptance test campaigns for avionics hardware, including functional, EMI/EMC, random vibration, shock, thermal cycling, and TVAC testing
Build and maintain avionics test benches, hardware-in-the-loop setups, and ground support equipment for checkout and integration
Support integration of avionics into vehicle-level systems, and troubleshoot hardware, firmware, and interface issues through integrated testing
Partner with suppliers on procurement, design reviews, and acceptance of avionics components and assemblies
Drive reliability, parts selection, derating, and failure analysis practices, and own corrective actions on non-conformances
Help scope and grow the Lunar avionics team, mentoring engineers and technicians as new hires join
Qualification
6+ years of experience designingExperience with embedded systems
Required
Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
6+ years of experience designing, developing, and testing avionics or electrical hardware for aerospace, defense, or similarly demanding applications
Demonstrated ownership of hardware from design through test and integration
Preferred
Experience serving as Responsible Engineer for spaceflight avionics through qualification and flight
Experience with embedded systems, flight computers, power electronics, and data bus architectures (e.g., RS-422, CAN, SpaceWire, Ethernet, MIL-STD-1553)
Experience designing for radiation environments, including part selection, single-event effects mitigation, and total ionizing dose considerations for beyond-LEO or lunar missions
Proficiency with schematic capture and PCB design tools (e.g., Altium) and the ability to read and interpret schematics, harness drawings, and interface documentation
Experience with environmental and EMI/EMC testing for spaceflight hardware
Experience with coding languages (Python, C/C++, MATLAB) for test automation, firmware support, and data analysis
Experience standing up new hardware capability, labs, or teams in a fast-paced, resource-constrained environment
Demonstrated experience mentoring or leading engineers and technicians, formally or informally
