The posting
Here at The Exploration Company, we are building spacecrafts for humanity.
Here at The Exploration Company we are developing, producing, and operating Nyx, a modular and reusable space orbital vehicle that can eventually be refueled in orbit, and which carries cargo - and potentially humans in the longer run. We are looking for an Avionics Systems Engineer (Flight Computer System) to support the design, development, integration, and validation of spacecraft avionics systems. The role entails delivering robust and reliable electronic systems for data handling, communications, and control across all mission phases.
The engineer will contribute to system architecture definition, interface management, verification activities, and requirements engineering, while working closely with multidisciplinary teams and external stakeholders. In this role, you will be focused on the Flight Computing system of the spacecraft, but you might also be assigned to different avionics systems.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
FLIGHT COMPUTING SYSTEMS AND AVIONICS ARCHITECTURE
- Define and develop system architectures for flight computing platforms and integrated avionics systems.
- Ensure end-to-end consistency of data flows, interfaces, and system-level requirements.
- Define computing requirements for processing capability, memory, storage, timing, synchronization, boot and initialization, and operational modes.
- Develop architectural concepts for fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR), fault containment, redundancy management, and autonomous spacecraft operations.
- Develop network topology, interface control documents (ICDs), data flow diagrams, communication matrices, and interface specifications.
- Develop and maintain system architecture descriptions, functional decompositions, interface specifications, and related engineering documentation.
- Assess architectural trade-offs related to performance, reliability, availability, redundancy, resource utilization, and system complexity.
FAILURE MANAGEMENT, REDUNDANCY, AND ARBITRATION
- Define and analyze system-level failure detection, fault management, and fault response strategies.
- Develop or contribute to control arbitration strategies for systems with multiple controllers, redundant computing channels, or competing control sources.
- Support the definition of voting mechanisms, command prioritization, authority management, and failover logic.
- Analyze system behavior following hardware failures, software faults, communication loss, sensor discrepancies, or inconsistent computing outputs.
INTEGRATION & INTERFACE MANAGEMENT
- Define and manage interfaces between avionics and other spacecraft subsystems (power, propulsion, GNC, payload, etc.).
- Collaborate with software developers to translate system requirements and architectural concepts into implementable software functions.
- Review software and system designs for consistency with system-level behavior, interfaces, and failure management requirements.
- Support analysis of computing performance, deterministic behavior, communication latency, and resource constraints.
- Contribute to troubleshooting and technical investigations involving interactions between system architecture, embedded software, and hardware.
VERIFICATION & VALIDATION
- Define and support verification and validation strategies for avionics systems.
- Participate in simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), and system-level testing activities.
- Analyze test results, identify anomalies, and drive corrective actions.
- Ensure compliance with system performance and reliability requirements.
REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING
- Capture, analyze, and manage system and subsystem requirements.
- Ensure full traceability from mission objectives to implementation and validation.
- Contribute to system documentation, including specifications, interface control documents, and test plans.
- Ensure compliance with applicable space standards and engineering best practices in international or multi-stakeholder engineering teams.
Why you should join us!
What makes us special here at The Exploration Company and why we think you will enjoy working here is:
- We’re Agile - we make decisions fast whilst keeping our goals and systems in mind
- We’re Open and Collaborative - we are transparent about risks and obstacles, so that we can cooperate to overcome them
- We have a lot of Fun - we refuel our energy knowing we are democratising space. It’s a wonderful and rare opportunity, are YOU up for the challenge?
We'd love to hear from you if you wish to be a part of our journey. Please submit your CV now for immediate consideration and we will be in touch shortly.
The Exploration Company is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status. Relocation assistance is provided for those willing to relocate including visa sponsorship where applicable.
All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of a background check, which will be subject to the country, role, and project you applied for. By submitting your application, you acknowledge and agree that any offer of employment may be conditional upon successful condition of this check. The Exploration Company partners with Zinc Work Limited located in the UK (Zinc), a third-party provider, to ensure this process as efficient and transparent as possible.
If applicable, you will receive an email from Zinc upon acceptance of your offer with a link to a secure portal where you can provide the required information to Zinc.
