Senior Electronics & Avionics Engineer

Vast is seeking a Senior Electronics & Avionics Engineer to own avionics development for a new constellation-ready spacecraft bus — a product line designed to scale to hundreds of spacecraft per year.

This is a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

About this role:

We're building a new satellite bus launching in Q4 2027. The avionics suite spans actuator controllers, power management electronics, high-speed payload interfaces, and sensor front-ends — a mix of in-house development, heritage reuse from other Vast programs, and COTS. You'll own every in-house development end-to-end: from make/buy/reuse decision through flight hardware delivery.

This is the most schedule-critical individual contributor role on the program. Multiple box developments run in parallel on tight timelines, and you're on the critical path for the entire satellite. As the product line scales from our first 10-satellite build to hundreds of spacecraft per year, you'll drive the transition from prototype to production — designing boards that can be built at rate, not just once.

Responsibilities: 

• Drive make, buy, or reuse decisions for all avionics boxes
• Own all in-house box developments end-to-end: kickoff, Rev 1 schematic/layout, component procurement, PCBA fab, board bring-up, radiation test, environmental test, CDR, Rev A delta design, flight build, ATP/QTP
• Manage PCBA critical path — schematic capture, layout, design reviews, component procurement, board fabrication, assembly, staking, conformal coating
• Own board bring-up and functional checkouts
• Coordinate with radiation test partners to qualify all components — proton and heavy ion testing
• Define environmental test requirements for box-level qualification
• Oversee harness design
• Design for production — as the product line scales to hundreds of spacecraft per year, your board designs must be producible at rate
• Interface with the Haven-1 avionics team to ensure cross-program collaboration and alignment across Vast’s product lines

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline
• 8+ years of electronics or avionics design experience in aerospace or defense
• 3+ years owning hardware development programs end-to-end
• Designed and delivered space-qualified avionics boxes through full lifecycle (prototype, env test, flight build, ATP)
• Strong PCBA design skills — schematic, layout, component selection for IPC Class 3 space applications
• Experience with radiation testing and rad-tolerant/rad-hard design approaches
• Managed parallel hardware developments on tight timelines
• Familiar with environmental qualification per SMC-S-016 or HALT/HASS, and parts derating per EEE-INST-002
• Comfortable with fast design iteration — Rev 1 as a learning build, Rev A as flight
• Experience with board bring-up, debug, and functional test development

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Able to obtain a security clearance
• CMG, reaction wheel, or ADCS actuator electronics experience
• Power electronics experience (bus controllers, battery charge controllers, power distribution)
• EMI/EMC design and test experience per MIL-STD-461
• IPC/J-STD workmanship standards knowledge
• Experience scaling from prototype to multi-unit production (10+ flight units)