Job City: Los Angeles County

• Location: Los Angeles County, California
• Type: Permanent
• Job #8304
• Salary: NON 215,000

Location: Los Angeles, California

Compensation: Competitive base salary + package 

Environment: Smallsat Design and Manufacturing

What if your next spacecraft started with a conversation?

A customer comes to you with a mission.

They know what they want to achieve in orbit. Your job is to help determine how we make it happen.

What does the spacecraft need to do? What are the mission constraints? How do power, communications, propulsion and the wider satellite architecture come together? What trades need to be made? And how do we turn that initial mission concept into a spacecraft that can actually be built, tested, launched and operated?

We’re looking for an experienced Systems Engineer to join a rapidly growing international small satellite company in Los Angeles.

This isn't a role where you'll simply manage requirements.

You'll sit at the intersection of the customer, the mission and the engineering teams responsible for building the spacecraft.

You'll take high-level customer objectives and translate them into system and subsystem requirements, working closely with hardware and software engineers to develop the right technical solution.

One day you might be discussing mission requirements with a customer.

The next, you're working through a power or link budget, evaluating a subsystem trade-off, reviewing a satellite architecture or helping the engineering team understand how a change impacts the wider mission.

You'll be involved throughout the lifecycle — from the first mission discussions and technical proposal through design, integration, testing and ultimately deployment.

We're particularly interested in people who have already spent 5+ years designing and developing nanosatellites or small satellites and understand how the pieces of a spacecraft fit together.

You'll ideally bring experience across areas such as:

• Spacecraft system and subsystem requirements
• Small satellite/nanosatellite architecture
• Communications, power and propulsion systems
• Mission, power, link and delta-V budgets
• Technical trade studies and system-level analysis
• STK, GMAT or similar mission-analysis tools
• SysML/UML and graphical system modelling
• DFMEA and engineering risk management
• Python, C or C++
• Jira and Confluence
• Customer-facing technical discussions and proposals

Experience supporting US Government or defence customers would be particularly valuable.

And then there's the location.

You'll be based in the Los Angeles area, right in the middle of one of the world's largest concentrations of space and defence companies, customers, launch providers and engineering talent.

You'll also collaborate internationally with engineering teams across Europe, with opportunities for occasional international travel.

This environment won't suit everyone.

It's fast.

It's technical.

It's delivery focused.

And you'll be expected to take ownership rather than wait for somebody else to solve the problem.

But if you're the type of Systems Engineer who wants to understand the entire spacecraft rather than one small piece of it, you'll have the opportunity to work on genuinely challenging missions and next-generation satellite technology.

You must be based in Los Angeles or willing to relocate to Southern California and be a US citizen or US permanent resident due to ITAR/EAR requirements.

Salary: $165,000–$215,000 + health insurance, matching 401(k) and team performance bonus.

• Location: Los Angeles County, California
• Type: Permanent
• Job #8158
• Salary: NON 268,000

Director of Avionics

Location: California, Los Angeles

Compensation: Competitive base salary + package + equity

What if your next manufacturing leadership role wasn't about improving an established production line — but building the capability that will help put a new reusable rocket into orbit?

EVONA has partnered with one of the most ambitious launch companies in the world, developing a next-generation reusable medium-to-heavy lift rocket designed to compete at the very top of the commercial launch market.

The company is moving towards first flight, and one of the most critical challenges now is taking sophisticated avionics hardware from development into reliable, scalable, high-rate production.

That's where you come in.

The Mission

As Director of Avionics Manufacturing, you'll own the end-to-end manufacturing and test organisation responsible for the electronics that power, control and connect the launch vehicle.

Flight computers.

PCBs and PCBAs.

Wire harnesses.

Sensors.

Integrated avionics units.

Environmental and functional testing.

This isn't simply about managing an existing factory operation.

You'll help determine how this hardware gets built, how it gets tested, how production scales and how the organisation develops as the vehicle moves towards flight.

You'll lead across manufacturing engineering, production operations and environmental & functional test, working directly with design engineering, systems, vehicle integration, supply chain and quality.

What You'll Own

You'll have responsibility for the entire journey from engineering development through production readiness.

You'll:

• Own manufacturing and test for the vehicle's avionics hardware
• Build and scale multidisciplinary manufacturing and operations teams
• Develop scalable, high-reliability processes for PCBAs, wire harnesses and integrated avionics
• Build the test infrastructure required to support production
• Drive the transition from development into higher-rate manufacturing
• Improve yield, reliability, throughput and cycle time
• Introduce automation, digital production tools and lean manufacturing practices
• Ensure hardware is manufacturable, testable and ready for vehicle integration
• Work across engineering, test, quality, supply chain and vehicle integration to remove production bottlenecks
• Ultimately ensure the avionics organisation can deliver flight hardware at rate and at the required quality

This is a role with genuine ownership rather than a narrow piece of a much larger manufacturing machine.

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for a senior manufacturing leader who understands avionics manufacturing, not simply avionics design.

You'll ideally have 10+ years within aerospace, space, automotive, electronics or another high-reliability manufacturing environment, including significant leadership responsibility.

Most importantly, you'll understand what it takes to manufacture and test complex electro-mechanical hardware.

Experience we're particularly interested in includes:

PCB/PCBA manufacturing • Wire harness fabrication • Integrated avionics • Electronics manufacturing • ESD • Conformal coating • Potting • Functional testing • Environmental testing • RF/electrical validation • Thermal • Vibration • Automated test • High-rate production

You should also have experience building and developing teams and be comfortable operating in an environment where priorities move quickly and schedules are aggressive.

Even Better If…

You've worked directly with spaceflight avionics or other flight-critical electronics.

Experience with IPC standards, EMC testing, automated test development, GSE, battery manufacturing, Lean/Six Sigma or standing up new production and test lines would all be highly relevant.

Why This One Is Different

There are plenty of senior manufacturing jobs where you're recruited to inherit something that's already been built.

This isn't one of them.

You'll join while the vehicle and its manufacturing capability are still evolving, giving you the opportunity to influence the processes, infrastructure, technology and team that will ultimately manufacture its flight avionics at scale.

The wider ambition goes far beyond a single launch vehicle: the company wants to build a major commercial launch business while pushing the boundaries of large-scale additive manufacturing, with a long-term vision extending to establishing industrial capability beyond Earth.

Competitive salary on offer, alongside equity and a wider benefits package.

If you've built avionics rather than simply designed them, led manufacturing teams, and want the opportunity to put your fingerprints on a new launch vehicle before its first flight, then this opportunity is for you.

• Location: Los Angeles County, California
• Type: Permanent
• Job #8135
• Salary: NON 240,000

Location: Los Angeles, California

Compensation: Competitive base salary + package

Environment: Smallsat Design and Manufacturing

Build the Team. Build the Capability. Build the Future.

Our Client is entering an exciting new phase of growth in the United States, establishing a major new 100,000+ sq. ft. satellite manufacturing facility in Los Angeles.

This facility will provide the capability to assemble, integrate and test increasingly sophisticated spacecraft and will become a critical part of Our Client's global manufacturing operations.

But before satellites can roll through the facility, someone needs to help build the capability behind them.

We are looking for an experienced Head of Assembly, Integration & Test (AI&T) to do exactly that.

This is not an opportunity to inherit an established department.

You will build it.

The Opportunity

As Head of AI&T, you will take responsibility for establishing and leading the Assembly, Integration & Test capability within the new Los Angeles operation.

You'll help determine how spacecraft move through the facility, how they are assembled and integrated, what equipment and infrastructure are required, how cleanroom operations should function and how spacecraft are ultimately tested and prepared for delivery.

You'll also build the team around you.

Working closely with engineering, manufacturing, quality, programme and operations teams, you will create an AI&T organisation capable of supporting the company's ambitious US growth plans.

What You'll Build & Lead

You will:

• Establish the US AI&T organisation from the ground up, including processes, procedures, workflows and operating standards.
• Recruit, develop and lead a high-performing team of AI&T engineers and technicians.
• Define spacecraft assembly, integration and test processes from subsystem through full spacecraft level.
• Establish cleanroom workflows, tooling, equipment and infrastructure requirements.
• Lead spacecraft integration activities across mechanical, electrical, avionics, payload and subsystem interfaces.
• Oversee functional testing and environmental qualification campaigns.
• Support testing including TVAC, vibration, shock and EMI/EMC.
• Establish manufacturing and test readiness processes and reviews.
• Ensure AI&T activities meet programme requirements for quality, schedule, cost and safety.
• Develop KPIs and operational metrics to measure performance, quality and throughput.
• Work closely with engineering and programme leadership to identify and mitigate integration and test risks.
• Coordinate with external suppliers and specialist test partners where required.
• Drive continuous improvement as spacecraft volumes and complexity increase.
• Ensure lessons learned from integration and test campaigns are fed back into engineering and manufacturing.

What We're Looking For

We are looking for someone who has spent their career close to the hardware.

You'll understand what it takes to move a spacecraft from individual subsystems through assembly, integration, environmental testing and ultimately flight readiness.

Ideally, you'll bring:

• 8+ years' experience within spacecraft Assembly, Integration & Test or a closely related discipline.
• Significant experience working within satellite or spacecraft manufacturing.
• Leadership experience managing AI&T engineers and/or technicians.
• Experience building, scaling or significantly improving an AI&T capability.
• Strong understanding of spacecraft assembly and integration processes.
• Hands-on knowledge of environmental testing, including thermal vacuum and vibration testing.
• Experience working within cleanroom environments.
• Understanding of high-reliability aerospace manufacturing and quality requirements.
• Experience working across engineering, manufacturing, quality and programme organisations.
• Strong programme, schedule, resource and risk-management capabilities.
• Degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical Engineering or another relevant engineering discipline.

Why This Opportunity Is Different

Many senior AI&T positions involve taking responsibility for an organisation, facility and processes that have existed for decades.

This one doesn't.

You'll join at the point where the decisions being made today will determine how spacecraft are assembled and tested in Los Angeles for years to come.

You'll influence the facility.

You'll select and develop the team.

You'll shape the processes.

You'll establish the culture.

And you'll ultimately see spacecraft move through an AI&T capability you helped create from the ground up.

For someone who has spent years building and testing spacecraft and has always thought, “I know how I'd build this if I had the opportunity” — this could be that opportunity.

• Location: Los Angeles County, California
• Type: Permanent
• Job #7145
• Salary: NON 300,000

We’re supporting a well-funded, next-generation aerospace company building a new orbital launch vehicle from first principles.

This is a senior leadership role owning all software that runs on the vehicle, from embedded avionics and real-time flight systems to simulation, test, release, and deployment infrastructure.

Scope includes:

• Safety-critical flight and embedded software across dozens of custom computers

• Distributed, real-time control systems (flight, GNC integration, vehicle networks, telemetry)

• Simulation, HIL/SIL, test automation, and release readiness

• Leading and scaling a multi-team organisation (currently ~25, growing rapidly)

We’re looking for someone who has done this before, ideally having built and flown software for a complex vehicle (rockets, spacecraft, satellites, autonomy, robotics, automotive, or similar cyber-physical systems).

A rare opportunity to shape the foundational software architecture of a launch vehicle with real ownership, autonomy, and long-term upside.