Avionics Engineer (Power Electronics)

Position Details

Location: Carson, CA

Employment Type: Full-time

Department: Starlight

Travel: Occasional

The Mission

Starpath is building the technology to enable human expansion into the Solar System. We are developing systems that will produce the water, power, and oxygen needed for humans to live and work on the Moon and Mars. Our ultimate goal is to build and operate a self-sustaining city on Mars.

Starlight is our space solar product. Our goal is to build the lowest-cost, highest-performance space solar power system—one capable of powering most new satellites around Earth and all Starpath equipment on the Moon and Mars.

Power Electronics Avionics Engineer

We are looking for a Power Electronics Avionics Engineer to own the design of Starlight’s power electronics. Your immediate responsibility will be to develop a power converter from system architecture through qualification and production.

You will own the converter’s topology, component selection, magnetics, control loops, sensing, protection circuitry, PCB design, thermal performance, and electrical interfaces. This is a hands-on role that includes circuit design, simulation, hardware bring-up, testing, and failure investigation in close collaboration with systems, mechanical, manufacturing, and test engineers.

Responsibilities:

Own the design of a power converter for the Starlight solar array product from requirements through flight readiness

Translate system-level requirements into converter architecture and detailed electrical requirements

Select converter topologies and components based on efficiency, power density, reliability, mass, cost, and manufacturability

Design switching power stages, gate-drive circuits, magnetics, control loops, sensing, filtering, and protection circuitry

Perform circuit modeling, simulation, stability analysis, component derating, and worst-case analysis

Own schematic capture and power-electronics PCB layout, including high-current paths, switching nodes, grounding, isolation, thermal management, and EMI control

Build, bring up, characterize, and debug converter prototypes

Develop and execute tests for efficiency, regulation, transient response, stability, thermal performance, emissions, and fault behavior

Design for launch and space environments, including vibration, thermal vacuum, radiation, and electromagnetic compatibility

Define electrical interfaces between the solar array, converter, spacecraft power system, and avionics

Investigate failures, determine root causes, and implement design improvements

Partner with manufacturing and supply-chain teams to transition the design into reliable production

Maintain schematics, bills of materials, analyses, interface documentation, and test and qualification records

Required Qualifications:

3+ years of professional experience designing power electronics or power-conversion hardware

Experience taking a power converter from architecture through prototype, bring-up, and testing

Strong understanding of switch-mode power-converter topologies, control-loop design, magnetics, power semiconductors, and gate-drive design

Experience with current and voltage sensing, feedback networks, filtering, isolation, and hardware protection circuits

Strong understanding of grounding, parasitics, switching behavior, power integrity, and EMI/EMC fundamentals

Experience designing or directing the layout of multilayer power-electronics PCBs

Hands-on experience using oscilloscopes, electronic loads, power supplies, network analyzers, current probes, and differential probes

Experience with circuit simulation, tolerance analysis, hardware bring-up, and root-cause investigation

Degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field, or equivalent professional experience

A desire to make humans a multi-planet species

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience designing power electronics for spacecraft, satellites, launch vehicles, aircraft, or other high-reliability systems

Experience with solar-array power electronics, maximum power point tracking, battery charging, or spacecraft electrical power systems

Experience designing high-efficiency, high-power-density DC-DC converters and custom magnetics

Experience with digital power control, embedded control firmware, or FPGA-based control

Knowledge of radiation effects, electrical component derating, and worst-case circuit analysis for space hardware

Experience designing for thermal vacuum, vibration, shock, and spaceflight EMC environments

Proficiency with Altium Designer, Cadence, LTspice, PSpice, PLECS, or similar tools

Experience supporting design-for-manufacturing, production testing, supplier qualification, or failure analysis

EAR Requirements:

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, you must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Equal Opportunity:

Starpath is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Benefits:

At Starpath Robotics, base pay is just one part of your total rewards package. We also offer:

Generous benefits including health, dental, vision, and retirement plans.

Paid time off, holidays, and flexible policies to support balance.

Professional growth opportunities through training and development.

The chance to own high-impact work that directly shapes the future of robotics & space!

A collaborative, mission-driven culture where craftsmanship and innovation are celebrated.