Lead Avionics Survivability Engineer (Aerospace)

Location: Long Beach, California, United States

Salary: $151,000–$227,000 USD per year

Company

Develops Terran R rockets and launch systems for delivering customer payloads to orbit, including the vehicle, factory, and supporting avionics architecture.

What you will do

• Lead the survivability team responsible for Terran R electrical and electronic systems across the full vehicle.
• Oversee electromagnetic compatibility, radiation effects, and EEE component reliability from component level through vehicle-level integration.
• Drive survivability analysis, test planning, qualification campaigns, and verification activities against mission requirements and industry standards.
• Coordinate with avionics, propulsion, structures, GNC, flight software, and external stakeholders to define requirements, assess risks, and implement mitigations.
• Lead complex test programs and influence survivability-related design decisions across the vehicle architecture.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field; an advanced degree is preferred.
• 7+ years of survivability engineering experience in harsh environments and mission-critical applications, including launch vehicles, spacecraft, aircraft, or defense systems.
• Technical background in at least two of EMC/EMI, radiation effects including TID, SEE, and displacement damage, or EEE component reliability and parts engineering.
• Working knowledge of space-environment effects including radiation belts, solar particle events, galactic cosmic rays, vacuum, thermal extremes, and electromagnetic environments.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and coordinating technical work across multiple engineering disciplines and internal customers.
• Experience defining survivability requirements, conducting risk assessments, and developing mitigation strategies from early design through qualification and flight.
• Experience with MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-464, NASA EEE-INST-002, ECSS standards, or equivalent.
• Experience planning and overseeing EMC testing, radiation testing, and component qualification programs.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence design decisions and advocate for survivability considerations.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree in Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field focused on electromagnetics, radiation physics, or materials science.
• Hands-on experience with EMC or radiation test facilities and environmental test chambers.
• Familiarity with CST, FEKO, or HFSS electromagnetic simulation tools.
• Experience with parts selection, derating, reliability prediction, FMECA, Reliability Block Diagrams, or Physics of Failure.
• Knowledge of SEE mitigation techniques including EDAC, triple modular redundancy, and radiation-hardened design.
• Experience with destructive physical analysis and electronic-component failure analysis.
• Familiarity with launch-vehicle or spacecraft-specific standards including SMC-S-016, SSCMAN 91-710, RCC319-19, and NASA-STD-8739.10.
• Experience establishing test facilities, laboratories, or qualification infrastructure.

Culture & Benefits

• Work involves close collaboration across avionics design, manufacturing, testing, propulsion, GNC, fluids, and stage engineering.
• High ownership over avionics components that will fly on Terran R.
• Competitive salary with equity, PTO and sick leave, parental leave, and an annual learning and development stipend.
• Compensation is determined by experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors.

Hiring process

• Unsolicited resumes, candidate profiles, and referrals from recruitment agencies or search firms are not accepted.
• Reasonable-accommodation requests can be submitted to the stated accommodations contact.