Principal Electrical Engineer I - RPU Unit Lead Verified today

About the Role

CesiumAstro seeks a Principal Electrical Engineer to lead design, development, integration, test, and flight qualification of advanced spaceborne payloads. You will serve as Unit Lead (Responsible Engineer) for the Reconfigurable Processing Unit (RPU) product line.

RPUs are complex, VPX-based electronics boxes integrating software-defined radios, single-board computers, power supply modules, and RF front ends. As Unit Lead, you own both technical definition and execution of new RPU products, which may include new VPX modules, backplanes, interface options, and software features.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as RPU Unit Lead and primary technical point of contact throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Lead end-to-end engineering for the box: architecture, design, prototyping, integration, test, environmental qualification, and flight readiness.
• Coordinate and direct RF, digital, power, mechanical, thermal, software, and systems engineers to ensure timely technical execution.
• Hold schedule accountability for box development.
• Develop and review payload control schemes, internal data interfaces, command and telemetry architecture, and firmware/software integration.
• Manage flight qualification activities including environmental test planning (thermal vacuum, vibration, shock, EMC), margin assessment, and acceptance testing.
• Own transition to volume production including manufacturability, testability, and customer-facing documentation.
• Generate and maintain box-level documentation: requirements, ICDs, block diagrams, test plans, verification matrices, risk registers, and design reviews.
• Interface with spacecraft systems engineering, mission assurance, manufacturing, vendors, and test facilities.
• Drive root cause analysis, anomaly resolution, and technical risk mitigation throughout development and test.
• Communicate status, technical trades, risks, and design decisions to internal leadership and external customers.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 9 or more years of engineering experience in electronics hardware development.
• Hands-on experience with software-defined radios or related technologies.
• Leadership experience including mentoring or leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong knowledge of systems engineering practices, requirements flowdown, verification/validation, and configuration management.
• Excellent communication skills with ability to present complex technical information to diverse audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Understanding of payload control systems, digital interfaces, command and data handling, and embedded hardware/software interactions.
• Experience executing or overseeing flight qualification and environmental test campaigns (TVAC, vibration/shock, EMC, radiation considerations).
• Experience managing hardware/software product development projects.
• Radiation-tolerant design experience.
• High-rate manufacturing, rapid development cycles, and/or NewSpace ecosystem experience.
• Prior role as Responsible Engineer, Technical Lead, IPT Lead, or Chief Engineer on flight hardware.
• Background in digital signal processing, beamforming algorithms, or embedded firmware for payload control.
• Experience mentoring less-experienced project engineers and design engineers.

Employment Details

Full-time position offering company stock options and benefits package including health, dental, vision, HSA, FSA, life, disability, and retirement plans.

Requirements

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, conditional resident, asylee, refugee, or eligible to obtain authorizations from the U.S. Department of State to comply with U.S. Government Space Technology Export Regulations.