---
title: 'Principal Avionics Hardware Development Engineer at Varda Space Industries'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-avionics-hardware-development-engineer-varda-space-industries-el-6smdg0bbjccp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Principal Avionics Hardware Development Engineer at Varda Space Industries

- **Company:** Varda Space Industries
- **Location:** El Segundo California, United States
- **Posted:** 2026-03-06
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vardaspace/jobs/7656390003

## Job description

## About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

## About This Role

As a Principal Avionics Hardware Engineer at Varda, you will be the architect and designer of flight critical electrical hardware for our satellite bus, reentry vehicle, and customer payloads. Some examples include our flight computers, satellite power systems, sensors for navigation and monitoring pharmaceutical manufacturing. You will define subsystem requirements based on high level mission and company objectives, design to those requirements, and ensure the system as manufactured meets those requirements. In addition to designing and building electrical hardware, you will define its safe operating criteria and support our mission operations team on the risk tradeoffs of operating near the bounds of those criteria.

At Varda, we believe that the trip to space and back is the easiest trip our hardware takes. We stress our components above and beyond the levels it should expect to see in flight and investigate our failures thoroughly.

## Responsibilities

- PCB level electronics design at all lifecycle stages, from schematic capture, to layout, to design validation, fabrication/assembly, and manufacturing test.
- Distilling high level company or mission objectives into requirements, designs, and developmental milestones for your subsystems.
- Avionics subject matter expert for satellite, reentry vehicle, and payload hardware. Providing support to those using your products, namely the Varda GNC, pharmaceutical, mission operations, and integration teams.
- Actively collaborate with cross functional teams such as flight software, thermal, GNC, and structures to determine across vehicle system impacts of design decisions.
- Ownership of product acceptance and qualification testing for space environments (Thermal, Vibe, Shock, TVAC, and EMI) with support from the Avionics Test team.
- Provide direction on system-level integration test plans to verify your hardware performs as expected at the vehicle level.
- Perform root cause analysis on test failures and implement holistic mitigation strategies for flight risks.
- Mentor junior engineers on their projects, challenges, and design methodologies setting a high bar for the future leaders of Varda.

## Basic Qualifications

- B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related engineering discipline.
- 8+ years of direct experience designing electronics hardware — schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up, and environmental qualification across multiple hardware domains..
- Demonstrated experience contributing to complex electronics systems from design to launch (to space or otherwise).
- Demonstrable knowledge of signal integrity, power and grounding board layout principles.
- Strong hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, function generators, benchtop digital multimeters, and power supplies.
- Experience programming in Python, MATLAB, or another scripting/data analysis language.
- Demonstrated experience implementing the hardware layer of numerous on-board and over-harness communication protocols such as SPI, RS422, and 1000BASE-T.
- Experience designing analog/digital filtering and mixed-signal circuits.
- Power electronics design experience including load switches and switch mode DC:DC converters.

## Preferred Skills & Experience

- Industry leading electronic circuit design and analysis skills.
- Strong supporting general knowledge in physics, math, and chemistry fundamentals for designing electronics that experience unique environments.
- Understanding of aerospace sensor and actuator technologies including: RTDs, pressure transducers, brushless motors, solenoid valves, thermocouples, stepper motors, and rotary/linear Encoders.

Pay Range

- Salary range: $181,913-$232,444/per year
- This role is on-site in El Segundo, CA
- Leveling and base salary is determined by job-related skills, education level, experience level, and job performance
- You will be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards

## Benefits

Consider your benefits covered for launch. At Varda, we invest in benefits and perks that support your health, financial well-being, and life beyond work. Benefits vary by position, with packages designed specifically for our regular full-time employees and interns.

Regular Full-Time Positions:

Health & Wellness

- Flexible PTO policy + 12 paid holidays
- 100% company-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance plans for employees and dependents with FSA and employer-matched HSA options
- Voluntary accident, hospital, critical illness, and pet insurance
- $120/month wellness reimbursement for gym and fitness expenses
- 12 weeks of parental leave (with supplemental disability leave for CA mothers)
- Family building, pregnancy, parenting and menopause benefits via Maven Clinic
- Sponsored One Medical memberships for employees and their dependents

Financial & Retirement

- Substantial incentive equity in a fully funded space start-up
- 401(k) retirement plan with 6% employer match (immediately vested)
- $20/pay period cell phone reimbursement
- Relocation support for new hires, if needed

Workplace Experience & Perks

- Fully stocked kitchen with lunch provided daily and dinner provided twice weekly
- Company and team-bonding events, happy hours and mission-success celebrations
- Complimentary EV charging

Benefits for Internship Positions:

Health & Wellness

- Paid observed holidays.
- 100% company-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance plans for employees and dependents with FSA and employer-matched HSA options.
- $120/month wellness reimbursement for gym and fitness expenses.
- Sponsored One Medical memberships for employees and their dependents.

Financial

- $20/pay period cell phone reimbursement.
- Up to $4,000 gross up in relocation support, if eligible
- Up to $850 commute credit through Lyft or car rental reimbursement, if eligible.

Workplace Experience & Perks

- Fully stocked kitchen with lunch provided daily and dinner provided twice weekly
- Company and team-bonding events, happy hours and mission-success celebrations
- Complimentary EV charging

ITAR Requirements

Varda, like all employers, must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally, our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items, our policy is to only hire “U.S. persons” who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.

“US person” means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e., individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum).

E-Verify Statement

Varda Space Industries, Inc. participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program. The E-Verify program is an Internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Learn more about the [E-Verify](https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.e-verify.gov%2Femployees%2Fe-verify-overview&data=05%7C01%7Ctyree%40varda.com%7C22201ef47a8142f3b0a708dbd0f6e47b%7C1b36161382e94a8784f78a213228882f%7C0%7C0%7C638333531041144158%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3toCq47V%2FiQtV%2B5rEKFG0tfg0yXkNTv4SuLE2Xy40Rk%3D&reserved=0) program.

E-Verify Notice                                                               Right To Work Notice

Read more                                                                             Read more

Varda Space Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Candidates and employees are always evaluated based on merit, qualifications, and performance. We will never discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, martial status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.

## About Varda Space Industries

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Varda Space Industries is building the first commercial orbital manufacturing and reentry infrastructure to produce materials in microgravity and return them to Earth for terrestrial benefit.
- **Entity Type**: Private (backed by major venture capital)
- **Headquarters**: El Segundo, California, USA (with an additional office in Washington, D.C.)
- **Founded**: January 2021
- **Founders**: Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Space infrastructure, biopharmaceutical manufacturing, microgravity research, government/defense
- **Target customers**: Biopharma companies (for drug development), government agencies (for hypersonic flight testing and research), academic and commercial microgravity researchers
- **Mission**: Expand the economic bounds of humankind by creating products and infrastructure so space can directly benefit life on Earth

## Products & Services
- **W-Series Spacecraft (W-1 through W-6)**: A free-flying orbital production satellite with integrated reentry capsule. Varda builds the entire spacecraft end-to-end in its El Segundo facility. The capsule reenters Earth’s atmosphere at Mach 25, lands via parachute, and is recovered with its payload for post-flight analysis. Missions serve pharmaceutical processing (heating, mixing, cooling in microgravity), government payloads, and autonomous hypersonic flight testing.
- **Orbital Pharmaceutical Processing Platform**: Purpose-built equipment that operates in orbit to produce novel crystal structures and formulations that are impossible to create on Earth.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not publicly disclosed, but the company has “significant backing” from world-class investors. A recent milestone is a research collaboration with United Therapeutics to advance microgravity-enabled treatments for rare pulmonary disease (announced via PRNewswire, 2025/2026).
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, Also Capital; collaboration with United Therapeutics
- **Growth Signals**: Six missions (W-1 through W-6) launched or announced; W-6 is the first launch of 2026; vehicle and heatshield built in-house; expanding workforce with ~94 open positions as of mid-2026

## Competitive Advantages
- **End-to-end ownership**: Varda designs, builds, integrates, and tests all vehicles and equipment in-house, enabling rapid iteration and high flight cadence.
- **First commercial reentry capability**: The W-Series is the first-ever commercial satellite and reentry vehicle built specifically for returning materials from orbit, completing the logistics chain from launch to recovery.
- **Experienced team**: Leadership and staff include veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies, and Silicon Valley.
- **Hypersonic flight heritage**: The capsule reenters at over 18,000 mph (Mach 25), providing a unique testbed for hypersonic and reentry technologies.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale orbital manufacturing**: Increase flight frequency and payload capacity to serve biopharma and government customers at commercial scale.
- **Deepen partnerships**: Expand collaborations with pharmaceutical companies (e.g., United Therapeutics) and government agencies for microgravity R&D and hypersonic testing.
- **Build infrastructure for the orbital economy**: Make reentry as common as launch, enabling a steady supply chain from space to Earth.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Varda describes itself as “bold,” “down to earth,” and “ambitious.” Employees work on unsolved problems across multiple fields, requiring confidence to forge new paths when there isn’t a known correct answer.
- **Work environment**: On-site roles at the El Segundo office and production facility. The team values technical rigor and a healthy dose of acumen, with conversations spanning polypeptide crystallization and ablation dynamics of thermal protection systems.
- **Benefits**: Competitive salaries, company equity, comprehensive benefits, catered meals. The company is an equal opportunity employer and seeks diverse backgrounds.
- **Growth opportunity**: With 94 current job openings (many in engineering, software, propulsion, payloads, and internships), Varda is actively scaling and offers the chance to build “the first industrial park off our home planet.”

## Sources
1. [varda.com/company](https://www.varda.com/company)
2. [varda.com/](https://www.varda.com/)
3. [varda.com/careers](https://www.varda.com/careers)
4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/vardaspace](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vardaspace)
5. [varda.com/platform](https://www.varda.com/platform)
6. [PRNewswire – Varda & United Therapeutics collaboration](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/varda-space-industries-and-united-therapeutics-collaborate-to-advance-microgravity-enabled-treatments-for-rare-pulmonary-disease-302770786.html)

## Other roles at Varda Space Industries

- [Construction Project Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/construction-project-engineer-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-california-fefxmccvwvf3) — El Segundo California, United States
- [W Series Vehicle Scheduler](https://feeny.ai/job/w-series-vehicle-scheduler-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-california-apepzdt8j4kc) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Launch and Recovery Engineering Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/launch-and-recovery-engineering-manager-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-mq52j1nbcpp1) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Propulsion Engineer II - Hardware and Bus Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/propulsion-engineer-ii-hardware-and-bus-systems-varda-space-industries-el-mq4svdk8gj6a) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Recruiting Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/recruiting-coordinator-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-california-j74bp5hw51e2) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Mission Assurance Engineer II - Build Reliability, Spacecraft](https://feeny.ai/job/mission-assurance-engineer-ii-build-reliability-spacecraft-varda-space-7hcwt1n40e4d) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Spacecraft Build Reliability Engineer II](https://feeny.ai/job/spacecraft-build-reliability-engineer-ii-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-fvg0fvpetywa) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Senior Spacecraft Build Reliability Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-spacecraft-build-reliability-engineer-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-5pqdrvmjejvj) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Spacecraft Electronics Systems Engineer II](https://feeny.ai/job/spacecraft-electronics-systems-engineer-ii-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-ctzffvgq63g5) — El Segundo California, United States
- [Senior Spacecraft Avionics Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-spacecraft-avionics-systems-engineer-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-yyzq1akhmpxh) — El Segundo California, United States