Contract Communications Systems Architect (Deep Space) $140 – $160/hour 4-month contract — highly likely to extend Part-time: approx. 20–25 hours per week Remote (US-based)
A stealth-mode space startup is hiring a Communications Systems Architect on contract to own the comms subsystem design for a Mars-capable satellite bus. The mission: a commercial interplanetary communications constellation, targeting launch in 2029.
This isn’t a support seat. The architecture is yours to define. The founders are flight-hardware operators who have shipped mission-critical space systems from concept through flight ops — they want an engineer who can take the comms subsystem from Conceptual Design Review through Preliminary Design Review and produce documentation that stands up to scrutiny.
What you’ll be doing
Defining the communications subsystem architecture for a Mars-compatible satellite bus, driving design decisions through CoDR and PDR
Developing preliminary comms performance analyses and deep-space link budgets
Building a Mars mission link analysis covering both relay and direct-to-Earth concepts, with enough depth to anchor CoDR and PDR decisions
Leading candidate architecture trade studies and command & telemetry architecture definition
Owning interface definition across complex system boundaries
Producing all CoDR and PDR data deliverables to programme schedule milestones
What you’ll deliver
Phase 1 — Comms CoDR package
Phase 2 — Comms PDR package
What you’ll need
Proven experience architecting a communications system for a lunar or Mars mission — this is the core requirement
Strong RF and satellite comms subsystem design background, including deep-space link budget analysis
Experience leading architecture trade studies and interface definition
Comfortable with formal design review processes (CoDR, PDR) and the documentation discipline that comes with them
Self-directed and delivery-focused — able to operate in a lean, early-stage environment
US-based
Nice to have
Relay vs direct-to-Earth architecture trade experience
Command and telemetry architecture design for interplanetary mission profiles
Prior contract or interim work — you land and add value fast
Interested Click apply with an updated copy of your CV. I’ll come back to you within 48 hours. If you don’t hear back within 48 hours, please assume you haven’t been successful on this occasion.
We're partnered with a pioneering space robotics company developing next-generation lunar vehicles and are looking for a Software Test Lead to build and lead the software verification strategy behind mission-critical flight systems.
This is an opportunity to define testing from the ground up, working across embedded software, robotics, and autonomous systems that will operate on the Moon.
What You'll Do
Lead the software test strategy for embedded, flight and ground systems.
Develop verification plans, test procedures and validation activities.
Build and improve HIL, simulation and automated test environments.
Work closely with software, systems and hardware engineers to ensure full requirements coverage.
Support fault injection, resilience testing and software certification.
Mentor engineers and help grow the software test function.
What We're Looking For
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering or similar.
5+ years of software test experience, including leadership or senior-level responsibility.
Experience testing embedded or safety-critical software.
Knowledge of HIL, automation frameworks and scripting.
Strong understanding of verification, validation and the software development lifecycle.
Excellent communication skills.
U.S. Person.
Nice to Have
Robotics, autonomous systems or spacecraft experience.
cFS, VxWorks, CI/CD or cloud testing experience.
Experience with spaceflight software development and certification.
Why Apply?
This is a chance to shape the software quality strategy for one of the most exciting lunar programmes in development today, helping deliver autonomous systems that will support the next generation of human exploration.
Are you an experienced Electrical Power Systems Engineer looking to design the next generation of power systems that will operate on the Moon?
We're partnered with an innovative space robotics company developing advanced lunar vehicles and autonomous systems for future human exploration. They're looking for a Lead Electrical Power Systems Engineer to take ownership of the vehicle's Electrical Power System (EPS), leading the architecture and development of high-voltage power electronics that will power critical lunar missions.
This is a highly technical leadership role where you'll influence the complete electrical architecture while remaining hands-on with hardware design, integration and testing.
What You'll Be Doing
Lead the architecture and development of the vehicle Electrical Power System (EPS).
Design high-voltage (120V+) power distribution, conditioning, protection and control systems.
Own electrical hardware development from concept through flight, including requirements, schematics, PCB layout, design reviews, testing and integration.
Develop vehicle-level power architectures supporting batteries, motor drives, charging systems, power conversion and mission-critical loads.
Design solutions for regenerative braking, motor control, transient suppression, fault protection and energy management.
Perform engineering trade studies balancing performance, reliability, safety, mass and cost.
Collaborate with systems, software, mechanical, thermal and harnessing teams to deliver fully integrated vehicle hardware.
Support hardware bring-up, troubleshooting, EMI/EMC testing, environmental testing and vehicle integration.
Define verification strategies and support qualification testing.
Work with suppliers on power electronics, motors, batteries and related hardware.
Provide technical leadership through design reviews, customer reviews and flight readiness activities.
Mentor junior electrical engineers and help establish engineering best practices.
What We're Looking For
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related discipline.
12+ years of experience designing high-voltage or high-power electrical systems.
Strong background developing power electronics, electrical power distribution systems or motor control systems.
Experience designing systems operating above 100VDC.
Strong knowledge of power conversion, protection, fault detection, power switching and high-current distribution.
Experience with electric vehicles, aerospace, industrial power systems or other safety-critical hardware.
Hands-on experience with hardware integration, debugging and root cause analysis.
Proficiency with Altium Designer.
Strong understanding of EMI/EMC design for high-power electronics.
Able to lead complex technical programmes while remaining hands-on.
Excellent communication skills and ability to work within a fast-paced engineering environment.
Must be a U.S. Person.
Nice to Have
Master's degree in Electrical Engineering.
Experience with aerospace, spaceflight or electric vehicle power systems.
Experience supporting NASA or Class A flight hardware.
Knowledge of battery systems, Battery Management Systems (BMS) and power conversion.
Familiarity with aerospace electrical design standards.
Experience developing hardware for harsh environments, including vibration, vacuum and thermal extremes.
Previous experience within a commercial space startup.
Why Join?
You'll play a key role in developing the electrical backbone of one of the world's most advanced lunar vehicles. This is an opportunity to lead the design of high-voltage power systems that will operate in one of the harshest environments imaginable, while working alongside a multidisciplinary team solving some of the most challenging engineering problems in space exploration.
If you're excited by high-power electronics, technical ownership, and building hardware that will help return humans to the Moon, we'd love to hear from you.
Are you an Electrical Engineer who wants to design hardware that will operate on the Moon?
We're partnered with one of the fastest-growing space robotics companies in the industry, developing next-generation lunar vehicles and autonomous systems that will support humanity's return to the lunar surface. As they continue to scale, they're looking for a Senior Electrical Engineer to own the design and development of complex electrical hardware for spaceflight applications.
This is a hands-on engineering role where you'll take hardware from concept through to integration, working alongside mechanical, software, systems, thermal and manufacturing teams in a fast-paced environment.
What You'll Be Doing
Design and develop electrical hardware for spaceflight systems from concept through production.
Create schematics, support PCB layout, board bring-up, verification and troubleshooting.
Design mixed-signal electronics incorporating digital, analog, sensing, control and power systems.
Develop board-level power architecture including DC/DC converters, power distribution, sequencing and protection.
Support high-speed interfaces including Ethernet, LVDS, PCIe, SpaceWire and similar communication protocols.
Work closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams to integrate hardware across complete vehicle systems.
Support component selection including processors, FPGAs, memories, connectors and power electronics.
Maintain ECAD libraries and engineering documentation.
Participate in functional, environmental, EMI/EMC and system-level testing.
What We're Looking For
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related discipline.
3+ years of experience developing electrical hardware for aerospace, space, defence or other safety-critical industries.
Strong experience with schematic capture and PCB design.
Solid understanding of analog and digital electronics.
Experience with communication protocols such as SPI, I²C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, USB, RS-422/485 or SpaceWire.
Experience with board-level power design and power conversion.
Hands-on board bring-up, debugging and hardware integration experience.
Comfortable working independently and making sound engineering trade-offs.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to thrive in a fast-moving engineering environment.
Must be a U.S. Person.
Nice to Have
Master's degree in Electrical Engineering.
Experience with Altium Designer.
FPGA or embedded processor experience.
EMI/EMC design and mitigation.
Familiarity with NASA or aerospace hardware standards.
Experience supporting spaceflight or human spaceflight programs.
High-reliability PCB design for harsh environments.
Why Join?
You'll be joining a company at the forefront of lunar exploration, working on hardware that will operate in one of the harshest environments imaginable. Engineers here have genuine ownership, move quickly, and work alongside some of the brightest minds in space robotics.
If you're looking for a role where your designs will help shape the future of space exploration, we'd love to hear from you.
An innovative aerospace company developing next-generation robotic and autonomous systems for space exploration is seeking a Senior Test Engineer to join its growing engineering team.
This is an opportunity to play a key role in the verification and validation of cutting-edge aerospace hardware, working on highly complex electromechanical systems in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
Key Responsibilities
Develop comprehensive test plans, procedures and verification strategies for hardware and integrated systems.
Design and build test fixtures, instrumentation and data acquisition systems.
Execute functional, environmental, structural and performance testing.
Analyse test data and produce clear technical reports and recommendations.
Lead root cause investigations and support corrective actions.
Work closely with design, manufacturing and quality teams to improve product performance and reliability.
Support system qualification, verification and certification activities.
Maintain accurate documentation throughout the testing lifecycle.
Drive continuous improvement of laboratory capabilities, tooling and test methodologies.
Key Requirements
Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
4+ years of experience in test engineering, systems engineering or a highly regulated engineering environment.
Experience with instrumentation, sensors and data acquisition systems.
Strong understanding of mechanical, electrical or integrated system testing.
Experience using data analysis tools such as Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW or similar.
Excellent troubleshooting and root cause analysis skills.
Aerospace or spaceflight programmes.
Environmental testing including vibration, thermal, shock or EMI/EMC.
Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) or integrated systems testing.
Familiarity with aerospace standards (NASA, MIL-STD, DO-160, AS9100 or similar).
Test automation and scripting.
What's on Offer
Opportunity to work on mission-critical aerospace hardware.
Collaborative, engineering-led culture with significant technical ownership.
Fast-paced environment with genuine opportunities for career growth.
Competitive salary, comprehensive benefits and relocation support where applicable.
If you're an engineer who enjoys solving challenging technical problems, building innovative test solutions and working on hardware that will operate in extreme environments, we'd love to hear from you.
Travel: up to 10–15% for customer reviews and test events
A US defense, national security and space technology company is hiring a Senior Systems Project Engineer on a 12-month contract to act as the senior technical authority across a high-complexity strategic systems program. This is ground-to-space, mission-critical work — where the stakes are real and the integration is genuinely hard.
This isn’t a support seat. The program is live and the direction is set. What’s missing is a senior engineer to own the integration end to end and drive it through to qualification and delivery.
What you’ll be doing
Leading technical execution and integration across complex, multi-disciplinary programs
Owning the customer, leadership and stakeholder technical interface
Directing Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) and the IMP/IMS
Overseeing subcontractors — flow-down, performance and interface management
Authoring and approving key artifacts — SOWs, ICDs, ECNs, test plans
Ensuring compliance with contractual requirements, CDRLs and standards
Supporting proposals — technical volume leadership and BOE
What you’ll need
Systems/aerospace/STEM degree + 10 yrs project engineering (or Master’s + 8, or 14 yrs in lieu)
Proven full-lifecycle program leadership — concept to delivery
Aerospace or defense experience, ideally DoD and MDA
Knowledge of DoD acquisition frameworks and contract structures
Strong systems-level judgment and ownership mindset
US citizen with an active DoD Secret Clearance (or able to obtain one)
ITAR-compliant
Nice to have
Solid rocket motors, propulsion, flight vehicle integration or complex electro-mechanical systems
Microsoft Project, Primavera or equivalent
Prior contract/interim work — you land and add value fast
Interested
Click apply with an updated copy of your CV. I’ll come back to you within 48 hours. If you don’t hear back within 48 hours, please assume you haven’t been successful on this occasion.
Contract Parts, Materials & Process (PMP) Engineer Location: Fully Remote (US) Type: Contract — 12 months Rate: Dependent on experience
EVONA is partnering with a US space systems company to secure a contract Parts, Materials & Process (PMP) Engineer.
You’ll support their senior M&P engineer in producing the parts, materials and processes assurance documentation the US government requires on program deliverables (MTA/PMAP). Let’s be straight: this is a compliance and documentation role, not R&D. The whole point is finding someone who’s lived in this environment before, knows what the customer expects, and can produce clean, compliant documentation without the endless back-and-forth.
What You’ll Be Working On
Authoring and maintaining PMP/PMAP program assurance documentation to MTA requirements
Producing compliance deliverables — parts control plans, materials and process plans, part and material approval requests, CDRL/SDRL submittals
Supporting parts, materials and process selection, qualification and approval, including EEE parts control
Reviewing drawings and specifications for correct materials and process callouts
Maintaining parts and materials lists, control plans and assurance records
Supporting DPA, radiation/RHA, derating and non-conformance reviews
Interfacing with the senior M&P engineer, program and quality teams, and the government customer
What You’ll Bring
Hands-on experience producing parts/materials/processes assurance documentation for US government defence or space programs — MTA/PMAP-type deliverables ideally
Background in PMP, M&P, EEE parts, component or reliability engineering within defence, space or high-reliability electronics
Proven ability to produce documentation that clears customer review first time
PMPCB, NSPAR, GIDEP or obsolescence experience (ideal)
ITAR: This role supports US Government space technology. Applicants must be a US citizen, permanent resident, protected individual, or otherwise eligible for the required export authorisations.
Interested Apply now or send your latest CV to m.carter@evona.com ASAP! If you haven’t heard back within 48 hours, please assume your application was not successful this time.
We're working with a fast-moving space company that needs a Loads & Dynamics Engineer to own the dynamic environments side of its hardware programmes. This isn't documentation-heavy compliance work — it's hands-on analysis where you'll derive environments, get test data in the room, and correlate it back against your models.
The core need is loads & dynamics, but there's a meaningful stress/FEA component alongside it. The ideal hire is a dynamics-focused engineer who can also carry a heavier Nastran workload and hold their own on stress — someone comfortable across both rather than a pure specialist in one. Depending on background, this could also be scoped as two separate engagements (loads & dynamics and stress), so strong candidates weighted toward either side are worth a conversation.
You won't need to be a career-long specialist, but you do need real depth in the discipline and the confidence to work directly with customers.
What you'll be doing
Loads & dynamics (primary)
Deriving dynamic environments and structural loads for spacecraft and launch hardware
Vibro-acoustics, random vibration, shock response, and structural dynamics analysis
Building system-level FE models and generating super-elements for customer delivery
Planning and correlating test campaigns — collecting data and reconciling it with your models
Iterating directly with customers on coupled loads and integrated analysis
Stress / FEA (alongside)
Detailed stress and structural analysis, hand calculations, and margins of safety
Heavier Nastran/FEA workload supporting the analysis effort
Desktop analysis work, largely remote
What we're looking for
Strong loads & dynamics background gained in space or defence
Proven experience deriving environments, running test campaigns, and correlating models to data
Solid stress/FEA capability — hands-on with Nastran (Femap, Patran, or equivalent an advantage)
Ideal: engineers out of new space — the pace, ownership, and end-to-end analysis culture of companies like Blue Origin, SpaceX, Rocket Lab, or Relativity map directly onto how this team works.
Also welcome: defence backgrounds, particularly propulsion (liquid or solid), missile, or high-speed aircraft systems.
Logistics
Contract engagement
Fully remote — largely desktop analysis, with no foreseeable on-site requirement (any minimal site coordination would be years out and hardware-dependent)
Join a mission-focused engineering team developing advanced solid propulsion and open-architecture airborne ISR technologies for DoD weapon systems, missile defense, and space launch programs. This is a hands-on role for a senior engineer who thrives on solving complex design challenges at a small, collaborative company working alongside industry pioneers.
What You'll Do
Lead design of hot gas valves, rocket thrusters, actuators, igniters, and pressure vessels
Own trade-off analysis and design optimization across multidisciplinary systems
Build intricate 2D/3D CAD models and technical drawings; apply advanced GD&T and tolerance analysis
Run structural, dynamic, and thermal simulations; interpret results to drive design decisions
Guide material selection and characterization for demanding applications
Oversee additive manufacturing, composite layups, machining, molding, and assembly — including quality control and technical guidance to assembly teams
Design test setups and custom fixtures; lead large-scale, high-risk test programs
Drive requirements engineering, risk management, and continuous improvement across programs
Manage schedules, proposals, and cross-functional teams on large-scale projects
Communicate technical findings clearly through documentation and presentations
What You Bring
10–15 years of mechanical engineering experience, ideally in rocket motor design and testing
BS in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering or related field (MS preferred); equivalent experience considered
U.S. citizenship, with ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance
A self-motivated, collaborative, “get it done” mindset
Build the Hardware That Will Drive the Next Generation of Space Exploration
We're looking for a Senior Test Integration Engineer to join an innovative aerospace team developing next-generation robotic and planetary vehicle systems.
This is a hands-on engineering role where you'll take prototypes from the lab to fully integrated vehicle systems, leading development testing, troubleshooting complex hardware, and helping mature cutting-edge technology into flight-ready products.
If you enjoy building, testing, breaking, fixing, and improving hardware in a fast-paced development environment, this is an opportunity to have a direct impact on revolutionary space technology.
What You'll Be Doing
Integrate prototype subsystems and complete vehicle assemblies
Plan and execute development and qualification test campaigns
Support verification and validation of flight hardware
Set up and operate test equipment, instrumentation, and data acquisition systems
Troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, and system-level issues
Perform environmental and vehicle-level testing, including thermal, vibration, and mobility testing
Develop test procedures, plans, reports, and documentation
Design and build custom test fixtures and integration equipment
Analyze test data and provide actionable feedback to design teams
Collaborate closely with systems, design, manufacturing, and production engineering teams throughout the product lifecycle
What We're Looking For
Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline
4-8 years of experience in test engineering, systems integration, prototype development, or hardware validation
Hands-on experience working with electromechanical systems, robotics, vehicles, or complex hardware
Experience planning and executing development and verification testing
Strong troubleshooting skills across mechanical, electrical, and integrated systems
Experience using instrumentation and data acquisition systems
Comfortable working in a fast-moving engineering environment where designs evolve rapidly
Excellent communication and technical documentation skills
U.S. Person status required
Nice to Have
Experience developing prototype vehicles or robotic systems
Flight hardware testing or qualification experience
Background in environmental testing, including thermal, vibration, dust, or mobility testing
Experience with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), or embedded systems
Programming experience with Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, or similar engineering tools
Why Join?
You'll be joining a collaborative engineering team working on advanced aerospace systems from concept through qualification. You'll have the opportunity to work directly with prototype hardware, influence vehicle development, and solve complex technical challenges in a highly collaborative environment where your work has a tangible impact.
Benefits
Competitive salary based on experience
Medical, dental, and vision coverage
401(k) with employer matching
Generous paid time off and company holidays
Parental leave
Professional development and educational reimbursement
Opportunity to work on cutting-edge aerospace technology alongside a highly skilled engineering team
Get in touch
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