Senior Spaceflight Electronics Design Engineer

About the Role

At the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), our engineers build flight and ground electronics for scientific instruments and spacecraft exploring Earth, the Sun, the Moon, planets, and the wider universe. We are looking for a senior electrical engineer who is driven to explore and can see the whole system, make sound decisions when constraints compete, and enjoys a job requiring hands-on hardware development work. You may have built your career in low-noise analog and sensor electronics, power conversion, motor control, embedded systems, or high-speed digital hardware. We do not expect one person to be an expert in every domain. What matters is deep capability in at least one area, broad electrical judgment, and a record of leading complex hardware from an early architecture through qualification and integration.

LASP combines the agility of a university laboratory with the technical capability of a premier space mission organization. Engineers work directly alongside scientists, students, and mission operators, allowing technical decisions to move quickly while maintaining scientific excellence. As part of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), LASP began in 1948 and is a world-recognized space science research institute that implements the full life cycle of science missions from the definition of the science questions through the development of space flight hardware and the subsequent mission operations. We are the only research institute in the world to have sent science instruments to all eight planets, Pluto, and beyond the solar system.

Responsibilities

• Own the electrical architecture and technical baseline for complex flight circuit-card assemblies, instrument electrical systems, or small-spacecraft electrical systems.
• Build the circuit card from schematic capture, manage layout, and lead laboratory startup testing.
• Translate mission needs into practical requirements, interfaces, power and performance budgets, grounding and fault-management concepts, verification plans, and implementation decisions.
• Contribute to or lead trades on performance, radiation, reliability, parts availability, manufacturability, thermal and mechanical constraints, cost, schedule, and mission life.
• Guide design reviews, PCB implementation, board bring-up, environmental qualification, EMI/EMC troubleshooting, failure investigations, and spacecraft or instrument integration.
• Lead a small technical team and give program leadership clear recommendations on risk, readiness, staffing, budget, schedule, suppliers, and the path to flight.
• Work closely with systems, FPGA, software, mechanical, thermal, science, quality, parts, radiation, manufacturing, and program teams.
• Serve as the responsible engineer for an electrical board or subsystem or lead electrical engineer for an instrument or small spacecraft, depending on the mission.

Because this position requires access to export-controlled information, applicants must be U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or other protected individuals as defined by applicable U.S. export-control laws. The work requires regular onsite presence in Boulder for flight hardware, laboratory work, and integration. Occasional travel and work outside normal business hours may be needed during critical test, integration, or launch activities.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field with at least 10 years of relevant experience; advanced engineering degrees in relevant fields may be considered as contribution to your experience.
• Technical ownership of complex electronic assemblies or subsystems, including at least one carried from requirements and architecture through production, qualification, and integration.
• Deep expertise in at least one relevant domain—analog or sensor electronics, power, motor control, embedded or digital hardware, or high-speed digital design—plus breadth across adjacent disciplines.
• Experience leading a technical team or engineering work package and communicating technical, cost, schedule, and readiness risk to program leadership.
• Practical fluency with schematic/PCB design and review, circuit simulation and analysis, and electronics laboratory test and troubleshooting.
• Experience with spaceflight or other high-consequence hardware. Relevant experience could include NASA or comparable assurance practices, radiation-tolerant design, EEE parts, EMI/EMC, FPGA-enabled architectures, automated test, or supplier oversight.

Strong candidates build expertise in different ways. If this work excites you and you meet the core qualifications, please apply even if your experience does not match every preferred qualification.

Skills

• Comfortable making progress when requirements are incomplete and several risks interact.
• Able to move between architecture, schematic and PCB review, circuit analysis, laboratory troubleshooting, supplier conversations, and program decisions without losing the technical thread.
• Communicates assumptions and residual risk plainly, mentors other engineers, and builds the documentation and configuration discipline needed for reproducible, reviewable flight hardware.
• Motivated by LASP’s mission of exploration and furthering humanity’s understanding of the cosmos.

Pay

$120,416.44 - $189,585.27

Benefits

At the University of Colorado Boulder, we are committed to supporting the holistic health and well-being of our employees. Our comprehensive benefits package includes:

• Medical, dental, and retirement plans.
• Generous paid time off.
• Tuition assistance for you and your dependents.
• An ECO Pass for local transit.
• Access to world-class outdoor recreation and the CU Advantage program.