Design & engineer
Avionics & Electrical
Designing the flight computers, power systems, circuit boards and wiring that run a rocket or spacecraft.
What it is
Avionics is the electronics of a rocket or spacecraft: the flight computers, the boards that read sensors and drive valves and motors, the batteries and power systems, and the harnesses that connect everything. Electrical engineers design these circuits and boards, bring them up on the bench, and test them until they survive launch vibration, vacuum, temperature swings and radiation. Some teams also design the FPGAs and custom chips inside them.
What you actually do
- Capture schematics and lay out circuit boards for power conversion, sensors, motor drives or digital processing.
- Choose components and run circuit analysis for power, tolerances, derating and reliability.
- Bring up new boards on the bench with oscilloscopes, power supplies and multimeters, and debug them with firmware engineers.
- Write and run qualification tests, including vibration, thermal and EMI/EMC, and push designs to their limits.
- Design battery packs and power distribution, from cell selection to pack-level testing.
- Support boards through production, vehicle integration and flight, and drive fixes when something fails.
A day of this work, concretely
Bring up a new flight computer board
The first boards of a new design arrive from the assembler. You power them up in steps, check every voltage rail, confirm the processor boots and that interfaces such as SPI, I2C, CAN or Ethernet talk to their parts. Every fix you need goes into a list for the next revision.
Design a switching power converter
A spacecraft needs a converter from its battery bus to the voltages its electronics use. You choose the topology and parts, simulate it in SPICE and lay out the board for low noise. Then you measure efficiency, ripple and response to load changes before it goes to environmental testing.
Run a battery qualification campaign
A new battery pack has to show it is safe and holds up in flight conditions. You design the test setup and run electrical, thermal and vibration tests, plus abuse and propagation tests that check one failing cell cannot set off its neighbors. Your report is what clears the pack for flight.
Is it right for you?
Most avionics engineers studied electrical or computer engineering. Hardware engineers from consumer electronics, automotive, telecom and defense move across well, because circuit design and board bring-up are the same skills; what is new is designing for vibration, vacuum and radiation. It suits people who like the lab bench as much as the schematic and enjoy chasing a problem from an oscilloscope trace to its root cause.
You will likely enjoy it if
- You enjoy circuit design and want your boards to fly, not just pass a simulation.
- You are happy at a lab bench with an oscilloscope, a soldering iron and a stack of datasheets.
- You can read firmware and write scripts to automate tests, even if you are not a full-time software engineer.
- You like owning hardware through test and production, and fixing it when it breaks.
What you need
- Bachelor's degree in electrical or computer engineering (some employers accept related degrees or equivalent experience)
- Hands-on experience designing, building or testing circuit boards, often 1 to 2+ years (research, internships and student projects count at many employers)
- U.S. person status under ITAR for most US roles, and U.S. citizenship where a program requires it
- Ability to obtain a security clearance for national security satellite programs
Skills that help
How to get started
- 1Earn an electrical or computer engineering degree with courses in analog circuits, power electronics and digital design.
- 2Design and build your own boards: start with a small microcontroller board in KiCad or Altium, have it made, and debug it on the bench.
- 3Join a CubeSat, rocketry or robotics team and own an avionics board, a power system or a harness.
- 4Learn the common interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, Ethernet) well enough to debug them with a logic analyzer and oscilloscope.
- 5Read up on what changes in space: radiation effects, derating, heat paths in vacuum and EMI/EMC.
- 6Apply for avionics, electrical design or avionics test roles; if you come from another electronics industry, test and integration roles let you learn flight hardware with skills you already have.
Common misconceptions
Myth: Space electronics all use old, slow radiation-hardened parts.
Reality: Some missions do, but postings for rockets and satellites also ask for experience with high-performance processors, FPGAs, high-speed digital design and switching power converters. Radiation is handled through design choices and testing.
Myth: You need aerospace experience to design flight electronics.
Reality: Postings ask for circuit design and bring-up skills first, and some say outright that aerospace experience is not required. Designing for vibration, vacuum and radiation is learned on the job.
Myth: Avionics is just wiring.
Reality: Harnesses are part of it, but the work covers flight computers, power conversion, battery packs, sensor electronics, FPGAs and custom chips, each with its own design and test discipline.
What it pays
Avionics work typically pays $123k–$260k/yr today, with a live median of $150k/yr across the 268 open roles that state their pay.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need an electrical engineering degree to work in avionics?
For design roles, almost always: postings ask for a bachelor's in electrical or computer engineering, sometimes with a master's preferred. A few digital roles, such as some FPGA positions, accept several years of professional software or hardware experience in place of a degree. If you want to work on flight electronics without an engineering degree, avionics and harness technician roles are the usual route, covered in how to become an aerospace technician.
What PCB design tools do space companies use?
Postings most often name Altium Designer, with Cadence and OrCAD also common, and SPICE tools such as LTspice for circuit simulation. FPGA roles ask for Verilog, SystemVerilog or VHDL, often on Xilinx SoC parts. Python appears as the language for automating bench equipment and analyzing test data. Learn one layout tool well; moving between them is easy once you know the workflow.
Do avionics jobs require a security clearance?
It depends on the program. Commercial avionics roles in the US usually need U.S. person status because flight electronics are export-controlled, some programs require U.S. citizenship, and national security satellite work can require a Secret or Top Secret clearance, sometimes obtained after you are hired. The ITAR and security clearance guide explains the difference.
How much do avionics engineers earn, and who is hiring?
Pay varies with level, location and employer; the space industry salaries guide explains how it works, and the avionics and electrical roles page shows pay from current postings. Launch companies, satellite builders and space station developers all hire avionics engineers. The board lists 550 open avionics and electrical roles today.
Related kinds of work
Flight Software & GNC
Writing the software and algorithms that fly a rocket or spacecraft, from embedded code to guidance and orbit control.
RF, Communications & Payloads
Designing the antennas, radios, signal processing and payloads that let satellites communicate, sense and image.
Systems, Integration & Test
Make sure every part of a rocket or satellite works together, then prove it on the ground before it flies.