Principal Electrical Engineer — Avionics and Command & Data Handling Lead

AscendArc is a venture-backed startup developing a satellite communications system. The Principal Electrical Engineer will lead avionics and Command & Data Handling architecture, electronics design, procurement, and spacecraft-level integration for a high-reliability GEO mission.

Responsibilities:

• Lead avionics and Command & Data Handling (C&DH) within the Electrical Engineering team
• Architect the avionics and C&DH subsystem, including buy-vs-build decisions
• Own avionics and C&DH requirements, I/O and channel allocation, and interface control documents
• Design in-house electronics, including topology, component selection, schematics, and circuit analysis
• Perform worst-case and derating analysis and select EEE parts for a 15-year GEO mission
• Support PCB layout, board bring-up, debugging, and testing
• Own technical procurement of externally sourced units, including specifications, SOWs, technical evaluations, supplier design reviews, and acceptance data
• Partner closely with Flight Software, Systems Engineering, Power, Battery, and other Electrical Engineering leads
• Own hardware interfaces across power, grounding, bonding, protection, harness, and spacecraft-level integration
• Work within the Systems Engineering baseline for requirements, interfaces, and technical budgets while owning avionics architecture decisions

Requirements:

• B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline; 8+ years, including spacecraft or other high-reliability avionics. Hands-on board design — circuits taken from requirements through schematic, analysis, bring-up and test, and you can show what you designed
• Subsystem-level engineering: architecture definition, requirements flow-down, interface control and resource budgets
• Command and data handling: on-board computing, telemetry and command architecture, data bus topology, and discrete, analog and serial signal accommodation
• EEE parts selection and derating for space or another high-reliability domain
• Specifying and technically managing procured electronics units, including supplier design reviews
• Comfortable across electrical, software and systems boundaries, and able to reach agreement with subsystem leads
• Fully remote within the United States
• Occasional travel to our Beaverton, OR office may be required for team meetings, integration, and other in-person work
• Due to U.S. export control regulations, this position is only open to “U.S. persons.” That means you must be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or have refugee/asylee status. Unfortunately, we cannot consider applicants on temporary work visas (such as H-1B, TN, O-1, etc.) for this role
• Strong plus: GEO communications satellites; FPGA or firmware familiarity; ECSS or equivalent space standards