P
Avionics Hardware Engineer
Accepting applicationsPowerus · Charlotte, NC
Full-Time Mid_senior EthernetI2CSPImixed-signal
Posted
1d ago
Category
Manufacturing
Experience
Mid_senior
Country
United States
About Powerus
Powerus is building a next-generation American autonomous systems platform designed to move, protect, and sustain critical assets in high-consequence environments. The company combines advanced autonomy, manufacturing capability, operational expertise, and strategic acquisitions to support defense, national security, critical infrastructure, and commercial operations globally.
Mission
Our mission is to deliver resilient autonomous technologies that strengthen national security, improve operational safety, and expand the capabilities of organizations operating in complex environments.
Why Join Powerus
Every other discipline on an unmanned aircraft depends on the avionics holding. Autonomy, GNC, and flight software all assume a flight computer that boots the same way every time, sensors that report truth, and rails that stay inside tolerance through vibration, altitude, and thermal swing. As Powerus scales its platforms into defense and national security programs, that assumption has to be engineered rather than hoped for.
This role owns the flight-critical electronics stack. You will decide how the flight computer and its sensor interfaces are architected, where redundancy is worth its mass and where it is not, how the system behaves when a rail sags or a sensor stops talking mid-flight, and what evidence has to exist before hardware is signed off as airworthy. You will then carry those boards from first article through qualification and into production build.
Position Overview
The avionics stack is where a design either earns flight or does not, and this role owns it. This position requires U.S. Person status, as the work involves access to export-controlled technical data. You will architect and bring up the flight computer, sensor interface, and power distribution hardware that flight software runs on, own IMU and GNSS integration at the electrical and mechanical interface, and define the redundancy and fault-tolerance behavior that keeps an aircraft recoverable when something fails. You will work alongside embedded software, GNC, and flight test during bring-up and debug, and with manufacturing on the transition from prototype board to production build. Expect to be on-site in Charlotte with hardware in front of you.
Key Responsibilities
Flight-critical hardware design
Architect and design flight computer and sensor interface boards, including processor, memory, timing, and interface selection against flight-critical requirements
Own IMU, GNSS, magnetometer, air data, and payload sensor integration - electrical interfaces, synchronization and timing, grounding, isolation, and mechanical placement for measurement quality
Design power architecture for avionics: sequencing, rail regulation and monitoring, brownout and inrush behavior, transient protection, and backup power for safe shutdown or continued flight
Define redundancy and fault-tolerance strategy in flight hardware - sensor and rail redundancy, watchdogs, failure detection and annunciation, and predictable degraded-mode behavior
Bring-up, qualification, and production
Lead board bring-up and hardware debug with embedded software, from first power-on through integrated flight software running on target
Plan and execute environmental and vibration qualification - thermal, altitude, shock, vibration, and EMI/EMC - and drive the design changes the results demand
Own the handoff from prototype board to production build: design for test and manufacturability, test fixtures and acceptance procedures, first-article review, and support through ramp
Maintain interface control documentation, hardware requirements traceability, failure analysis records, and the qualification evidence that supports airworthiness and customer review
Investigate in-flight and ground anomalies to root cause across the hardware, software, and mechanical boundary, and close them with verified corrective action
Qualifications
Must be located in the United States, within commuting distance of Charlotte, NC, and able to work on-site
Degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
Experience designing and bringing up embedded electronics that have to work in a real vehicle or other physically demanding environment, not only on a bench
Working knowledge of digital and mixed-signal design, power regulation and sequencing, and the interfaces sensors and processors actually use - SPI, I2C, CAN, UART, Ethernet
Hands-on debug ability with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and bench instrumentation, including problems that only appear intermittently or under load
Experience integrating inertial, GNSS, or other precision sensors, and an understanding of what degrades their measurements
Experience taking hardware through environmental or qualification testing, or through a production transition
U.S. Person status required (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)); this role involves access to ITAR- and EAR-controlled technical data
Preferred Qualifications
Avionics, aerospace, automotive safety, or other flight-critical or safety-critical hardware experience
Familiarity with airworthiness practice or standards such as DO-254, DO-160, or MIL-STD-810 and MIL-STD-461
Experience designing redundant or fault-tolerant architectures, and reasoning about failure modes formally through FMEA or similar
Exposure to autopilot hardware, flight control computers, or UAV platforms
Familiarity with NDAA Section 848 and Blue UAS sourcing constraints as they affect avionics component selection
Experience supporting flight test - instrumentation, data capture, and post-flight hardware forensics
What We Look For
We are looking for an engineer who treats flight hardware as something that has to be proven rather than argued. The people who do well here think in failure modes first, are specific about what has actually been tested versus what is assumed, and are willing to hold a board back when the evidence is not there. You should be comfortable owning a design from architecture through vibration table and into production, moving fluidly between the schematic, the scope, and the flight line, and explaining to software and GNC engineers exactly what the hardware will and will not guarantee them.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Powerus is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and mission-driven workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Show more Show less
Powerus is building a next-generation American autonomous systems platform designed to move, protect, and sustain critical assets in high-consequence environments. The company combines advanced autonomy, manufacturing capability, operational expertise, and strategic acquisitions to support defense, national security, critical infrastructure, and commercial operations globally.
Mission
Our mission is to deliver resilient autonomous technologies that strengthen national security, improve operational safety, and expand the capabilities of organizations operating in complex environments.
Why Join Powerus
Every other discipline on an unmanned aircraft depends on the avionics holding. Autonomy, GNC, and flight software all assume a flight computer that boots the same way every time, sensors that report truth, and rails that stay inside tolerance through vibration, altitude, and thermal swing. As Powerus scales its platforms into defense and national security programs, that assumption has to be engineered rather than hoped for.
This role owns the flight-critical electronics stack. You will decide how the flight computer and its sensor interfaces are architected, where redundancy is worth its mass and where it is not, how the system behaves when a rail sags or a sensor stops talking mid-flight, and what evidence has to exist before hardware is signed off as airworthy. You will then carry those boards from first article through qualification and into production build.
Position Overview
The avionics stack is where a design either earns flight or does not, and this role owns it. This position requires U.S. Person status, as the work involves access to export-controlled technical data. You will architect and bring up the flight computer, sensor interface, and power distribution hardware that flight software runs on, own IMU and GNSS integration at the electrical and mechanical interface, and define the redundancy and fault-tolerance behavior that keeps an aircraft recoverable when something fails. You will work alongside embedded software, GNC, and flight test during bring-up and debug, and with manufacturing on the transition from prototype board to production build. Expect to be on-site in Charlotte with hardware in front of you.
Key Responsibilities
Flight-critical hardware design
Architect and design flight computer and sensor interface boards, including processor, memory, timing, and interface selection against flight-critical requirements
Own IMU, GNSS, magnetometer, air data, and payload sensor integration - electrical interfaces, synchronization and timing, grounding, isolation, and mechanical placement for measurement quality
Design power architecture for avionics: sequencing, rail regulation and monitoring, brownout and inrush behavior, transient protection, and backup power for safe shutdown or continued flight
Define redundancy and fault-tolerance strategy in flight hardware - sensor and rail redundancy, watchdogs, failure detection and annunciation, and predictable degraded-mode behavior
Bring-up, qualification, and production
Lead board bring-up and hardware debug with embedded software, from first power-on through integrated flight software running on target
Plan and execute environmental and vibration qualification - thermal, altitude, shock, vibration, and EMI/EMC - and drive the design changes the results demand
Own the handoff from prototype board to production build: design for test and manufacturability, test fixtures and acceptance procedures, first-article review, and support through ramp
Maintain interface control documentation, hardware requirements traceability, failure analysis records, and the qualification evidence that supports airworthiness and customer review
Investigate in-flight and ground anomalies to root cause across the hardware, software, and mechanical boundary, and close them with verified corrective action
Qualifications
Must be located in the United States, within commuting distance of Charlotte, NC, and able to work on-site
Degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
Experience designing and bringing up embedded electronics that have to work in a real vehicle or other physically demanding environment, not only on a bench
Working knowledge of digital and mixed-signal design, power regulation and sequencing, and the interfaces sensors and processors actually use - SPI, I2C, CAN, UART, Ethernet
Hands-on debug ability with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and bench instrumentation, including problems that only appear intermittently or under load
Experience integrating inertial, GNSS, or other precision sensors, and an understanding of what degrades their measurements
Experience taking hardware through environmental or qualification testing, or through a production transition
U.S. Person status required (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)); this role involves access to ITAR- and EAR-controlled technical data
Preferred Qualifications
Avionics, aerospace, automotive safety, or other flight-critical or safety-critical hardware experience
Familiarity with airworthiness practice or standards such as DO-254, DO-160, or MIL-STD-810 and MIL-STD-461
Experience designing redundant or fault-tolerant architectures, and reasoning about failure modes formally through FMEA or similar
Exposure to autopilot hardware, flight control computers, or UAV platforms
Familiarity with NDAA Section 848 and Blue UAS sourcing constraints as they affect avionics component selection
Experience supporting flight test - instrumentation, data capture, and post-flight hardware forensics
What We Look For
We are looking for an engineer who treats flight hardware as something that has to be proven rather than argued. The people who do well here think in failure modes first, are specific about what has actually been tested versus what is assumed, and are willing to hold a board back when the evidence is not there. You should be comfortable owning a design from architecture through vibration table and into production, moving fluidly between the schematic, the scope, and the flight line, and explaining to software and GNC engineers exactly what the hardware will and will not guarantee them.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Powerus is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and mission-driven workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Show more Show less