The Company
Astra's mission is to improve life on Earth from space by creating a healthier and more connected planet. Astra delivered its first commercial payload into Earth orbit in 2021, making it the fastest company in history to reach this milestone, just five years after being founded in 2016. By achieving monthly, weekly, then daily launches, we'll create the infrastructure services our customers need in space to build a healthier and more connected planet. If you're excited by a sense of possibility, the chance to innovate, and make a difference here on Earth, we think you should work here too.
The Team
The Spacecraft team is chartered with designing, developing, validating, and flying Astra manufactured satellites, all from the ground up. This is a fast-paced, autonomous group able to define a new method of small sat development. We are looking for talented individuals able to question the industry status quo and make impactful contributions to the overall approach and system design. If you are a self-starter with spacecraft experience looking to have real responsibility and ownership of your work, we want to hear from you!
A successful person for this job will be dynamic, self-starting, who thrives in an entrepreneurial environment, and has the potential to become significant contributors to the overall direction and success our business.
The Opportunity

• Design, prototype, and validate electronic subsystems for space applications
• Own subsystem design from requirements, concept, analysis, part selection, layout, first article bring-up, through test and integration
• Full subsystem ownership including ensuring harness and enclosure design meeting requirements
• Participate in and host design reviews at concept, part selection and layout phase
• Work across the organization to help teams debug electrical systems
• Circuit design and simulation, schematic capture, and PCB layout


As the ideal person for the job, not only do you know your way around simulation and PCB design EDA tools, but also a rack of test equipment and a soldering iron.

How you'll help us achieve our mission:

• Partner: Work with a cross-disciplinary team of system owners including electrical, mechanical, controls, and software engineers to design and refine flight hardware.
• Build: Take ownership of everything you design from conception, test and build.
• Impress: Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Astra is doing something that no other space company has and we are always open to new and creative ideas.
• Strategize: Be prepared look down the development path to help design products that can grow/evolve with the launch vehicle.
• Up-level: Always be aware of the systems that you interact with and have a desire to help improve them.

Why We Value You

• Bachelors or Masters degree in Electrical Engineering (or related)
• 7+ years of experience in electronics design for a BS degree, 3+ for MS degree, or 1+ for PhD
• PCB layout experience in Altium or equivalent for RF, mixed-mode, power or digital boards
• Leading projects from start to finish
• Circuit simulation experience in ADS, Spice, Hyperlynx or equivalent
• Be a helpful, positive influence on the organization

Desired Multipliers

• Designed for radiation tolerant systems
• Experience with redundancy for flight critical systems
• Designed for low noise, and minimization of EMI / EMC
• Designed for high-vibration environments
• Experience with embedded software development, Linux scripting, and octave/matlab
• Experience in mixed-signal design with DACs and ADCs
• FPGA programming design experience
• Programming experience in C/C++/Python and/or MATLAB

ITAR Requirements: This position requires compliance with U.S. Government space technology trade restrictions, specifically the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and additional regulations governing satellite, launch vehicle, missile, and other related technologies. All jobs restricted by these regulations will be contingent upon the applicant's status as a documented U.S. Person or their ability to receive a trade license from the cognizant government agency; in addition to any required company background checks and in compliance with applicable U.S. and California laws. Similarly, positions requiring the ability to work on government contracts or a security clearance are also contingent upon the applicants ability to receive the appropriate clearance and be allowed to work on U.S. government contracts.
You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Astra, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.
San Francisco Applicants: Astra will consider applicants with arrest and conviction records (criminal histories) in a manner consistent with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.