Staff Systems Architect, Space Electronics
About the role
The Anduril Imaging team develops state-of-the-art imaging systems across both hardware and software, deploying them to tackle significant security challenges for America and its allies. The role involves owning the electronics architecture for space-bound imaging payloads, driving their design from concept to flight, and ensuring designs meet rigorous space environment standards.
Responsibilities
- Own the electrical architecture for imaging payloads, partitioning the system, defining power, sensor, data, and interface electronics, and driving the architectural tradeoffs (COTS vs. rad-hard, performance vs. schedule vs. cost) that enable a sub-12-month path to orbit.
- Lead the design, layout, bring-up, and qualification of PCBAs spanning analog, digital, mixed-signal, and power electronics for EO/IR sensor systems.
- Translate sensor and system performance models into electrical requirements, and push back on requirements that don't earn their place on the critical path.
- Drive rapid design-build-test cycles: prototype quickly, characterize on the bench, iterate on real hardware, and converge on flight-ready designs without unnecessary cycles.
- Design for the space environment (radiation, thermal extremes, vacuum, vibration, and launch loads) and own the analysis and testing (TVAC, vibe, EMI/EMC) that proves it.
- Bake in design for manufacturability and assembly (DFM/DFA) from the first schematic so designs scale cleanly toward low-rate production as programs mature.
- Lead board bring-up, integration, and troubleshooting in the lab and during environmental and integration testing, using standard bench equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power supplies, DMMs, etc.).
- Partner closely with firmware, optics, mechanical, systems, and program teams to drive integration and close out anomalies fast.
- Mentor and provide technical guidance to other electrical engineers, and serve as a design-review and decision-making anchor for the electronics scope.
- Document architectures, designs, analyses, and test results to a standard that supports flight readiness and program reviews.
Requirements
- 12+ years of experience in electrical engineering spanning system-level architecture, electronics design, and hands-on test, with a track record of owning designs end to end.
- A degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
- Demonstrated ownership of electronics architecture for a complex electromechanical or sensor system, including the tradeoff decisions that shaped it.
- Strong analog, digital, mixed-signal, and power electronics design experience, with deep schematic capture and PCB layout proficiency.
- Proven ability to take hardware from architecture through bring-up, integration, and qualification — including hands-on debug in the lab.
- Experience delivering hardware on aggressive timelines and working in rapid, iterative design cycles.
- Excellent engineering judgment, problem-solving, and the ability to make sound decisions with incomplete information under schedule pressure.
- Ability to collaborate effectively across a multidisciplinary engineering team.
- Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance.
Preferred Qualifications
- Direct experience designing electronics for space, especially New Space / commercial-cadence programs that flew hardware in a year or less.
- Familiarity with the space environment and qualification: radiation effects (TID/SEE), rad-hard and rad-tolerant part selection, COTS-for-space approaches, TVAC, vibration, and EMI/EMC.
- Experience with EO/IR, RF, optical, or other sensor and communication systems.
- Experience designing for manufacturability and assembly, and transitioning proven designs toward low-rate production to make them more robust and lower cost.
- Familiarity with analytical tools and programming languages such as MATLAB, Python, or C++.
- Understanding of system integration processes and workflows in aerospace or defense environments.
- Experience mentoring engineers and leading design reviews.
Benefits
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:
- Comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees)
- Health, recovery, and future-focused support
For more information, explore our benefits.