Avionics Engineer
The job description
Tech stack. DO-178C/DO-254 processes, ARINC 429/664, MATLAB/Simulink, HIL test benches, oscilloscopes/logic analyzers, requirements tools (DOORS)
About the role
You will join the avionics team of an aerospace company building the electronic nervous system of the vehicle: flight computers, sensors, communication, and navigation. The team owns avionics hardware and software from requirements through certification. This role matters because avionics failures make headlines, and your designs must operate flawlessly across vibration, EMI, temperature extremes, and decades of service with certification evidence to prove it. You will design for the worst day, not the nominal one: lightning strikes, power transients, single-event upsets, and the maintenance technician troubleshooting your LRU at midnight on a flight line. Your designs will balance performance against the brutal realities of certification, where every requirement must be verified and every verification documented. You will work closely with software teams to define hardware-software interfaces that are testable and robust, and with systems engineers to allocate functions across the avionics architecture sensibly. You will develop deep respect for configuration management, because in avionics the wrong software load on the right hardware is a finding waiting to happen.
What you will achieve
- Deliver avionics LRUs or software components meeting functional, environmental, and safety requirements with first-pass qualification above 90 percent
- Cut integration defects by 35 percent through interface control discipline and HIL testing before aircraft-level integration
- Own requirements, design, and verification artifacts per DO-178C (software) or DO-254 (hardware) through DAL C or higher
- Drive EMI/EMC compliance: design reviews, test planning, and remediation keeping programs on certification schedule
- Ship certified avionics with complete compliance documentation for FAA/EASA or military airworthiness approval
- Reduce avionics integration lab debug time by defining interface specifications with built-in test provisions and clear fault isolation paths
What you will bring
Must-haves
- 2 to 5 years of experience in avionics hardware or software engineering roles
- Strong understanding of avionics architectures: federated vs integrated modular (IMA) and data bus topologies
- Working knowledge of ARINC 429, ARINC 664/AFDX, MIL-STD-1553, or CAN aerospace as applicable
- Familiarity with DO-178C software levels or DO-254 hardware design assurance processes
- Experience with HIL testing, lab integration, and debugging with oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
- Understanding of environmental qualification: DO-160G categories for vibration, EMI, temperature, and altitude
- Disciplined requirements management and traceability practices
Nice-to-haves
- Experience with ARINC 653 partitioning or real-time operating systems
- Knowledge of navigation sensors: GPS/INS, air data, radar altimeters, and their fusion
- Familiarity with cybersecurity requirements for avionics (DO-326/356)
- Background in cockpit display or flight management systems
- Knowledge of time-triggered architectures or deterministic networking for safety-critical systems
SpaceX
Boeing
Lockheed Martin
Blue Origin
Northrop Grumman
Rocket Lab