Lead Electrical Engineer - Space Technologies

AeroVironment (AV) provides a full suite of exquisite, space-qualified hardware trusted to fly in the most extreme environments across GEO, MEO, LEO, and Cislunar orbits. With hundreds of systems in space, our customers rely on AV for missions that cannot fail. Join our expanding team to tackle unprecedented challenges and deliver critical innovations in laser communications, space electronics, and sensors.

About the role

The selected candidates will join a dynamic team working to put great systems on orbit, contributing to leading-edge tasks in high-speed digital electronics, analog circuits, and space-qualified hardware development.

Responsibilities

• Design custom high-speed digital electronics including ADCs, DACs, FPGAs, processors, and communications drivers.
• Design and conduct analysis of analog circuits, including low-noise signal conditioning and power amplifiers.
• Provide expertise to both product development and R&D efforts.
• Collaborate with peers, leads, and managers to develop, review, and refine designs and analyses to meet program technical needs within defined time and budget constraints.
• Support electronics manufacturing and test within a broad-disciplined program team.
• Derive sub-assembly requirements from higher-level system requirements and define test methodologies.
• Develop and conduct testing of complex electronic sub-assemblies, including design of special test equipment (STE).
• Produce PCB layouts and understand PCB manufacturing and assembly processes.
• Develop design and verification documentation (e.g., Interface Control Documents, Design Description Documents, Test Plans, Test Procedures, Test Reports).
• Present designs to internal and external stakeholders with strong written and verbal communication skills.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering with a minimum of 8 years of experience, or a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with a minimum of 10 years of experience.
• Experience in design, analysis, integration, and test of custom electronics.
• Proficiency in electrical design software and simulation tools (e.g., Altium, SPICE, MATLAB, Simulink, HyperLynx, MS Office).
• Ability to conduct circuit analysis and simulation to optimize performance and reliability.

Qualifications

• Understanding of space qualification standards and requirements.
• Experience designing custom electronics for space products.
• Experience designing to defined requirements.
• Experience with analysis for high-reliability space electronics hardware (e.g., electrical stress analysis, worst-case circuit analysis, reliability analysis).
• Experience producing PCB layouts and understanding of relevant IPC standards for electrical design and fabrication.
• Experience developing and conducting testing of complex electronic sub-assemblies.
• Experience deriving sub-assembly requirements from higher-level system requirements.
• Ability to complete assigned work within defined timelines and budgets.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Physical Demands

• Ability to work in an office and manufacturing environment.
• Constantly required to sit and stand for long periods; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone keyboard.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $100,500 - $153,250. AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including location, role, responsibilities, work experience, education/training, and key skills.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401K with company matching.
• 9/80 work schedule.
• Paid holiday shutdown.

This position requires compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Applicants must qualify as a U.S. person (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee) or be eligible for an export license. Some positions may require current U.S. citizenship due to contract requirements.