Defense and Space Manufacturing

Senior Electrical Engineer - Digital Hardware

Jacksonville, FLOnsiteFull TimeSeniorPosted 1 month ago

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Required skills

Electrical Engineering
Digital Hardware
FPGA
SoC
PCB Design
High-Speed Digital
PCIe
SpaceWire
Ethernet
Signal Integrity

Nice to have

Space Energy Grid
Orbital Economy
Power Beaming
VPX
SpaceVPX
CompactPCI Serial

Role summary

Star Catcher is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer - Digital Hardware to design and develop digital hardware for space-to-space power beaming spacecraft and its orbital power grid. This role involves leading the architecture, design, and development of FPGA/SoC-based boards and compute modules, from requirements to integration. Responsibilities include high-speed PCB design, detailed circuit analysis (SI/PI, timing, WCA), radiation effects analysis, and hardware-software interface definition. The ideal candidate will have 10+ years of experience in digital hardware design, FPGA systems, and high-speed PCB design, with a strong understanding of signal and power integrity. Experience with radiation-tolerant components and spacecraft systems is desired. This role also involves mentoring junior engineers and leading technical reviews.

Power the future of space at Star Catcher

Star Catcher is building the first energy grid in space to power the orbital economy.

Today’s spacecraft must generate all of their own power, which caps what they can do and how long they can operate. But what if they could “plug” into a grid, the way buildings do on Earth? Instead of cables and outlets, Star Catcher is building the technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft’s existing solar panels when and where they need it.Be an early member of a team building an entirely new energy infrastructure at scale to power the next frontier.

Star Catcher Industries, Inc., located in Jacksonville, Florida, has an opportunity for a Senior Electrical Engineer - Digital Hardware to support the development of space-to-space power beaming spacecraft and the Star Catcher Network, its orbital power grid.

Key Responsibilities

Lead and co-own digital-hardware architecture, detailed design, and development of FPGA/SoC-based boards, backplane interfaces, and compute module integration, from requirements analysis through schematic capture, simulation, manufacturing support, integration, and verification.

Lead high-speed digital PCB design, including multi-Gbps interfaces (e.g., PCIe, SpaceWire, Ethernet), backplane bus architectures, memory and storage interfaces, clock generation and distribution, and data acquisition/control circuits.

Perform detailed analysis of digital and mixed-signal circuits for timing and margin, signal integrity, power integrity, thermal performance, radiation effects, EMI/EMC, and component derating; use these analyses to drive design decisions and closure at the board and system level.

Perform worst-case circuit analysis (WCA) across process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) corners to validate design robustness for high-reliability, space-flight hardware.

Select and qualify radiation-tolerant digital hardware components, including evaluating component tolerances and environmental impacts to ensure adequate design margin.

Define hardware-software interfaces and lead board bring-up/debug strategy with embedded software and firmware engineers, using lab instrumentation (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, DC power supplies) to validate designs and troubleshoot issues at the component, board, module, and system level.

Support architecture trade studies and conceptual digital hardware solutions for compute and backplane systems as mission requirements evolve, including in support of new program pursuits.

Support risk reduction and mitigation activities related to part obsolescence, cost, producibility, and long-lead materials.

Mentor mid-level digital hardware engineers and lead technical design reviews as the team grows.

Basic Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

Experience: 10+ years of experience in digital hardware design, FPGA-based systems, or high-speed digital PCB design.

Experience with backplane-based architectures (e.g., VPX, SpaceVPX, CompactPCI Serial, or similar).

Experience with FPGA/SoC platforms and associated design toolchains.

Strong working knowledge of high-speed digital design practices (signal integrity, power integrity, timing closure).

Demonstrated experience performing timing analysis, SI/PI simulation, and worst-case analysis (WCA) using industry-standard tools (e.g., HyperLynx, Ansys SIwave/HFSS, Cadence, or equivalent).

Experience with hardware integration, verification, and debug in a lab environment.

Desired Skills

Experience with radiation-tolerant digital design practices (TID and SEE mitigation).

Experience selecting or qualifying compute modules for space-flight applications.

Familiarity with spacecraft data bus standards (e.g., SpaceWire, CCSDS, or similar).

Experience designing, integrating, or analyzing high-speed electrical interfaces and protocols (e.g., multi-Gb Ethernet, PCIe Gen 2/3/4/5).

Experience with Altium Designer or equivalent EDA/ECAD tools (e.g., Cadence, Siemens Xpedition).

MATLAB, Python, or similar programming experience for modeling, analysis, or test automation.

Experience developing part derating and stress analysis reports for high-reliability digital hardware.

Experience with NASA/DoD life cycle and technical reviews (e.g., SRR, PDR, CDR).

Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical design reviews.

Help us deploy and scale space infrastructure that will drive our utilization of space forward! We offer a highly competitive benefits package including access to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) retirement plan, life insurance, and paid parental leave, in addition to other benefits.

Star Catcher is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Star Catcher is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

All offers of employment at Star Catcher are contingent upon results of a thorough background check and your ability to provide proof of eligibility to work in the US.

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.

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