Avionics - Flight Termination System Engineer/Lead
Stoke Space
A thriving economy in space is needed to make life on Earth more vibrant, sustainable, and equitable. Space technology will enable global access to information, solutions to climate change, answers to global food security, products that transform healthcare, clean energy production, and more. Today, rocket launch options are slow, expensive, and unreliable. Stoke is building the world’s most efficient fully and rapidly reusable rocket designed to fly daily that will radically increase access to space and open up the space economy to safeguard our precious home, Earth.
Description
Reusable launch systems are the key to seamlessly connecting Earth and space. Developing an Autonomous Flight Safety system for a highly reusable, operable, and reliable system is fundamental to the success of the NOVA launch vehicle. As the Flight Termination System Lead at an early-stage start-up you will be responsible for architecting, designing, and qualifying the entire system including electronics and ordnance. Part of your role is developing constructive and transparent relationships with FAA and Space Force range safety personnel as well as our vendors. You will work closely with the avionics, structures, and production teams to design and implement these solutions, and continuously iterate and improve your designs. You will seek out state-of-the-art solutions to difficult problems and develop new standards for a reusable system. You must be ready to stay focused, move fast, self-direct, and learn on the fly.
Responsibilities
- Managing the design, test, and qualification of the Autonomous Flight Termination System for the fully reusable NOVA launch vehicle
- Drive designs through concept, prototyping, testing, and production release life cycle
- Collaborate with electrical and software design engineers to define, design, manufacture, and test autonomous flight termination unit and or high voltage initiation devices
- Develop strong working relationships with FAA and Space Force Range safety personnel
- Write and execute build, acceptance, qualification, and system test procedures
- Integrate and perform end-to-end functional testing on launch vehicle
- Perform system level analyses such as FMECA, fault tolerance, power budget, bent pin, electrical derating, etc
- Manage ordnance vendors through complete design, qualification, and operations life cycle
- Lead anomaly and failure investigations to identify root cause and resolution
- Support test and launch operations
Qualifications
- 2 years minimum experience designing, building, or testing avionics/ordnance hardware or similar
- B.S. degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronic Engineering or equivalent
- Experience tailoring requirements including RCC 319 and RCC 324 with FAA and Space Force
- Experience qualifying hardware for launch vehicle environments (RCC 319, RCC 324, SMC-S-016, MIL-STD-810)
- Hands on experience performing electrical integration and test, including environmental testing such as random vibration, shock, thermal cycling, and EMI/EMC
- Experience with safety critical software verification and validation
- Ability to understand and provide feedback on schematics/board layout
- Basic fabrication, machining, wiring, general electronics, debugging, and parts chasing
- Basic first principles understanding of both mechanical and electrical common best practices for design
- Capable of writing software for test automation, data review, and design analysis
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Rigorous attention to detail
Benefits
- Equity – We know that our employees are the reason we succeed. To give everyone a stake in our future, we are pleased to offer equity in the form of stock options to all regular, full-time employees.
- Comprehensive benefits program including subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Company-paid life and disability insurance
- 401(k) plan with employer match
- 4 weeks’ Paid Time Off
- Holidays – 10 days (including an end-of-year closure)
- Paid Family/Parental Leave
- On-site gym or monthly wellness stipend (depending on location)
- Dog friendly offices!
Compensation
Target Levels:
- Level 2 Range: $104,500 - $141,400
- Level 3 Range: $123,000 - $184,400
- Level 4 Range: $144,100 - $240,100
Our job posts are intentionally written to attract a wide variety of experience levels, and we make decisions about the right fit on a per-candidate basis.
Your actual level and base salary will be decided based on your specific experience and skill level.
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.
Equal Opportunity
The Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including with respect to disability and veteran status. It is committed to compliance with all equal opportunity laws, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and Title VII. It does not discriminate on the basis of nationality, race, citizenship, immigration status, or any other protected class when it comes to employment practices, including hiring.
Employment at the Company is contingent upon satisfactory completion of reference and background checks, and on your ability to prove your identity and authorization to work in the U.S. for the Company. Employees must comply with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services employment verification requirements, and, therefore, they must complete an Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 at the start of employment and re-verify authorization to work periodically.
Separate from this I-9 process, this position entails access to certain technology and technical data that is restricted under U.S. export control laws and regulations. Employment or continued employment may be conditioned on your legal authorization to work with or have access to export control materials as necessary to perform your job.