Electrical Engineer - Avionics & Embedded Hardware
Tiberius Aerospace Inc.
Location: Orange County, California Team: Engineering Commitment: Full-time Reports to: Shawn Gilmore Experience: Minimum three years of relevant experience Pay range: 120,000–175,000 annual base salary, commensurate with experience and qualifications, plus equity and benefits
About Tiberius Aerospace
Tiberius Aerospace builds next-generation weapon systems for the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies. We design, test and validate, then license production to qualified manufacturers and allied nations so they can build sovereign capacity. We call it Defense as a Service: tight hardware and software integration, fast iteration, and systems that keep improving after they’re fielded.
Our portfolio spans SCEPTRE, a ramjet-powered 155mm artillery round; INVICTUS, a ramjet strike missile; VAULT, a containerized launch system for ground, maritime and air platforms; and GRAIL, our AI platform connecting buyers, OEMs, suppliers and capital across the defense industrial base. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California.
Location
Based in Orange County, California, working closely with engineering, hardware development and test teams. This role requires hands-on laboratory work and on-site collaboration for hardware integration and testing. Travel may be required to company facilities, suppliers, manufacturing partners and test locations.
Position Overview
We’re looking for a hands-on Electrical Engineer to develop avionics, power, sensing, communications and control electronics for advanced air vehicles and precision-strike systems.
You’ll own assigned electrical hardware throughout its development lifecycle - from requirements and architecture through schematic design, PCB development, prototype bring-up, vehicle integration, environmental verification, flight-test support and production release.
Reporting to Shawn Gilmore, you’ll work closely with mechanical, GNC, propulsion, software, manufacturing and test teams to integrate electronics with flight computers, actuators, sensors, batteries, telemetry systems and mission payloads.
This is a hardware-focused role for an engineer who is equally comfortable reviewing a schematic, troubleshooting at the bench and supporting an integrated vehicle test.
Decision rights: You own assigned electrical designs, supporting calculations, interface documentation and test procedures. System architecture, safety-critical interfaces, design release and changes affecting cost or schedule are reviewed with Shawn Gilmore and the appropriate technical leads.
What You’ll Do
- Develop electrical architectures and hardware for flight vehicles and mission systems.
- Design analog, digital, mixed-signal, power and embedded-electronics circuits.
- Own assigned PCBs from requirements and schematic capture through bring-up, verification and production release.
- Define electrical interfaces, power budgets, grounding approaches and communications requirements.
- Integrate flight computers, sensors, actuators, batteries, telemetry and control electronics.
- Develop test equipment and procedures for board-level and integrated-system verification.
- Troubleshoot electrical failures and drive corrective actions.
- Support environmental testing, flight testing and the transition to repeatable production.
Core Responsibilities
Electrical Architecture and Design
- Translate system requirements into electrical architectures, interface definitions and detailed hardware designs.
- Develop schematics, wiring diagrams, system block diagrams and electrical interface documentation.
- Design and integrate avionics, embedded processing, sensor interfaces, power distribution and control electronics.
- Select components based on performance, reliability, operating environment, availability, cost and schedule.
- Develop power budgets and evaluate grounding, shielding, protection and fault-management approaches.
- Define communications interfaces and electrical requirements between subsystems.
- Support cable, harness, connector and interconnect design.
PCB Development and Bring-Up
- Own assigned boards through schematic capture, layout coordination, fabrication, assembly and verification.
- Review PCB layouts for signal integrity, power integrity, thermal performance, manufacturability and environmental robustness.
- Develop board-level test plans, bring-up procedures and acceptance criteria.
- Debug prototypes using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power supplies and other appropriate laboratory equipment.
- Use spectrum and network analyzers where required by the hardware under development.
- Resolve grounding, electrical-noise, communications and EMI/EMC issues.
- Evaluate component substitutions and support alternative-part qualification and obsolescence management.
Vehicle Integration and Test
- Integrate electrical hardware into air vehicle and munition platforms.
- Support hardware-in-the-loop testing, system integration, environmental verification and flight-test activities.
- Develop breakout boxes, test harnesses, fixtures and electrical ground-support equipment.
- Investigate intermittent faults and failures across hardware, firmware and subsystem interfaces.
- Analyze telemetry and electrical-performance data from ground and flight tests.
- Perform root-cause investigations and verify corrective actions.
- Support qualification for applicable shock, vibration, temperature and electromagnetic environments.
Manufacturing and Production Support
- Apply design-for-manufacturing and design-for-test principles throughout development.
- Develop manufacturing test procedures and electrical acceptance criteria.
- Work with suppliers and contract manufacturers to resolve fabrication, assembly and test issues.
- Review supplier designs, component selections, test results and proposed hardware deviations.
- Maintain controlled schematics, bills of materials, interface documents and engineering change records.
- Incorporate build and test feedback into subsequent hardware revisions.
- Support the transition from development electronics to repeatable production hardware.
Cross-Functional Engineering
- Coordinate with mechanical, GNC, propulsion, software, test, manufacturing and program teams.
- Ensure electrical designs account for mechanical packaging, thermal constraints, software interfaces and system-level requirements.
- Participate in design reviews and communicate technical decisions, assumptions and risks.
- Identify integration dependencies early and track issues through resolution.
- Document methods and results so other engineers can reproduce tests and understand design decisions.
What You’ll Bring
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or a closely related discipline.
- Minimum of three years of relevant electrical or avionics hardware-development experience.
- Strong fundamentals in analog, digital, power and embedded-electronics design.
- Experience developing schematics and supporting PCB layout, fabrication and assembly.
- Proficiency with Altium Designer, Cadence OrCAD/Allegro, KiCad or comparable tools.
- Hands-on experience bringing up and debugging prototype electronics.
- Familiarity with interfaces such as CAN, RS-422/485, Ethernet, SPI, I²C and UART.
- Proficiency with standard electrical laboratory and diagnostic equipment.
- Understanding of grounding, shielding, signal integrity, power integrity and electrical-noise mitigation.
- Working knowledge of EMI/EMC considerations in hardware design and integration.
- Experience supporting integrated hardware testing.
- Clear technical writing and communication skills.
- Ability to manage assigned work, identify risks early and follow through on corrective actions.
- U.S. citizenship and eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.
Preferred
- Experience developing avionics for missiles, guided munitions, UAS, rockets, spacecraft or other flight vehicles.
- Experience with flight computers, motor controllers, actuator electronics, propulsion controls or safety-critical electrical interfaces.
- Experience designing battery-management, power-conversion or high-current power-distribution hardware.
- Experience with high-density or high-speed digital PCB design.
- Experience with RF electronics, telemetry, GPS/GNSS receivers or communications hardware.
- Experience developing embedded C/C++ firmware or hardware-interface software.
- Familiarity with FPGA- or microcontroller-based systems.
- Experience with DO-160, MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-810 or comparable environmental standards.
- Experience qualifying electronics for shock, vibration, high-acceleration and thermal environments.
- Experience developing automated test equipment and production-test processes.
- Active U.S. government security clearance.
What We’re Looking For
- An engineer who takes ownership from schematic through integrated hardware.
- A practical problem-solver who can distinguish an electrical symptom from its root cause.
- Someone who understands both board-level behavior and vehicle-level interactions.
- A hands-on builder who anticipates integration problems and troubleshoots systematically.
- A clear communicator who documents decisions, flags uncertainty and asks for the right support.
- Someone who treats test results as evidence for improving the next hardware iteration.
- Mission first. Focused on electronics that work reliably after leaving the lab.
Growth Opportunity
You’ll develop broad ownership of electrical hardware across design, integration, testing and production. As Tiberius grows, you’ll have opportunities to lead more complex assemblies, influence subsystem architectures and take on greater technical responsibility across flight programs.
Compensation & Benefits
- 120,000–175,000 annual base salary, commensurate with experience, technical expertise and scope of responsibility
- Equity participation
- Comprehensive health benefits
- 401(k)
Specific compensation and benefits will be discussed during the interview process.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Tiberius Aerospace Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We maintain policies and practices designed to prevent discrimination and harassment in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws.
Employment decisions are made without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law, except where a specific eligibility requirement is mandated by law.
Applicants who require a reasonable accommodation or an alternative method to complete the application process may contact kburchstead@tiberius.com for assistance.
