Sr. Electrical Design Engineer (Raptor Avionics)

Sr. Electrical Design Engineer (Raptor Avionics)

The Raptor Avionics team is responsible for delivering all electrical control and sensing hardware for Raptor, the world's most advanced rocket engine. As an Electrical Engineer on the Raptor Avionics team, you will have the unique opportunity to explore all areas of a product's life cycle: requirements definition, development, qualification, production, launch, and reuse. In addition to serving as the extreme owner of the product over the course of its life, you will be expected to analyze and troubleshoot electronic assemblies, define new processes, design and analyze robust, efficient circuits, and identify opportunities for improvement in both products and processes. You will have the opportunity to own a wide variety of components that enable SpaceX vehicles to provide the safest and most reliable access to space.

The nature of this position requires someone who is interested in a multidisciplinary organization, working with a range of technologies including electronics, high pressure hardware, and electromechanical actuators. Additionally, this person must have a strong desire to apply data analytics to drive continuous improvement across the organization.

Responsibilities:

• Design new hardware, redesign existing hardware, and perform modifications to PCBAs to improve their reliability and manufacturability or expand vehicle capabilities
• Provide extreme ownership of avionics hardware for flight across all areas of the product life cycle
• Drive changes to electrical schematics and mechanical drawings that improve reliability and manufacturability
• Perform root cause investigations to characterize off-nominal unit behavior and mitigate risk
• Derive engineering justification to resolve production issues throughout assembly, test, and vehicle integration
• Design test setups and execute hardware validation through benchtop and environmental testing

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or computer engineering
• 5+ years professional experience designing electronics

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Passion for spaceflight and demonstrated experience designing high quality electronics for high reliability applications
• Experience developing new hardware, not just incremental updates
• Experience working through system trades, pushing back on requirements, and following through with verification and validation
• Self-starter with demonstrated experience on multiple projects making hardware work within demanding time and resource constraints
• High level of proficiency with designing signal conditioning circuits, digital circuits, and switching power converters, as demonstrated by successful fielding of multiple products
• Proficiency with schematic capture and board layout, producing clean and maintainable designs, preferably in Altium or Circuit Maker
• Knowledge of digital communications interfaces including SPI, I2C, CAN, Ethernet, and RS422
• Knowledge of common circuit blocks including filters, power supplies, and microcontrollers.
• High level of proficiency with circuit simulation tools and formal analysis methods, such as derating and worst-case circuit analysis
• High level of proficiency with lab equipment for development testing of circuits and components, including sophisticated test definition, troubleshooting, data collection, and data reduction techniques
• Proficient at board level rework in support of development testing
• Solid working knowledge of EMI/EMC underlying physics and specifications, along with best practices for design, and strategies for addressing test exceedances
• Experience producing high rate designs which are optimized for manufacturability and cost
• Proficiency writing software for test automation, data review, and design analysis, preferably in MATLAB or Python
• Cross functional project management skills and ability to collaborate with other engineering disciplines, as demonstrated on multiple programs
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Additional Requirements:

• Extended hours and weekend work may be required to support critical project and mission milestones

Compensation and Benefits:

Pay range: Electrical Engineer/Senior: $130,000 - $180,000.00/per year. Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock, stock options, or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Employees accrue paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy which satisfies or exceeds the accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the law.

ITAR Requirements:

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX's Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to View email address on click.appcast.io.