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Director of Engineering, Avionics

Playa Vista, California, United States

Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth

Who We Are:  

Eras of humanity can often be defined by a dominant transportation mode - horse drawn carriage, ocean faring boats, or aircraft. These were spurred by a small group of people rigorously focused on building technology to achieve faster access to more of the world.  We seek to usher in a new era of humanity defined by universal access to the whole globe free of borders and the presence of a routine way from space to Earth. To do this, we are building highly maneuverable re-entry vehicles that can loiter in orbit before precision landing back on Earth.      

What You’ll Do:  

As the head of Inversion’s Avionics team, you will spearhead the creation, design, and leadership of the hardware and software associated with our space vehicles’ electronics controllers, power systems, RF systems, embedded software, GNC, PCB design, and harnessing. Inversion’s spacecraft are capable of both operating as a satellite on orbit for long durations as well as reentering Earth’s atmosphere and autonomously and accurately land anywhere in the world. You will own the technical development of all of the crucial components and systems necessary for our satellites to operate on orbit and during reentry. In this role, you will: 

  • Report directly to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). 
  • Lead technical and programmatic architecture and execution of the avionics, embedded software, and guidance, navigation, and control (GNC / GN&C) systems on Inversion’s Arc vehicle. 
  • Assemble an incredibly talent-dense team of engineers to design, build, test, and produce the avionics sensors, components, and controllers. 
  • Develop company-wide philosophies and procedures for how to develop and integrate avionics systems, GNC systems, and embedded software systems. 

 Required Qualifications:  

  • Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent industry experience in a relevant field with a minimum of 10+ years of engineering complex computation systems.  
  • 5+ years of developing electronics hardware for mission-critical space applications (satellites, reentry vehicles, rockets, etc.) 
  • Successful track record of taking projects from design through deployment into production.  
  • Strong understanding and experience designing for radiation-tolerance and/or multi-redundant systems. 
  • Strong ability to translate customer requirements into highly reliable engineering outcomes. 
  • Excellent communication skills and the ability to inspire team members.  

 Desired Qualifications:  

  • Excellent PCB design fundamentals and experience with electrical CAD tools such as Altium. 
  • Experience with EMC and radiation testing on electronics hardware. 
  • Experience with C, C++, and/or Rust coding ability for embedded systems.  
  • Experience with environmental test equipment such as thermal chambers, vibration tables, and thermal-vacuum (TVAC) chambers. 
  • Experience with mechanical CAD tools such as NX. 
  • Experience with designing and building aerospace-grade harnessing and connectors. 

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $175,000-$276,000.  Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data.  Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity. 

 

ITAR Compliance:
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  
 
Equal Employment Opportunity:
Inversion provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or disability.  
 
Inversion collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.  If you are a US Job Applicant see the CCPA Privacy Policy Notice for further details.

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