Varda Space Industries
Automation Engineer - Controls & Python
About this role
Varda seeks an Automation Engineer to design and build sophisticated ground support equipment and test systems for spaceflight hardware qualification. You'll work with a modern stack including custom PLC frameworks and Beckhoff EtherCAT tooling, owning systems from electrical design through commissioning while partnering with propulsion and avionics teams.
What you'll do
- Design, build, and maintain test systems and ground support equipment for flight hardware qualification and manufacturing
- Integrate external hardware including thermal vacuum chambers, pressure systems, data acquisition devices, and precision instrumentation
- Develop and extend Varda's internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling for evolving program needs
- Contribute to architecture decisions on real-time control implementation, evaluating PLC-based versus Linux approaches
- Build electrical cabinets, wire panels, and own systems end-to-end from design through commissioning
- Partner with propulsion, avionics, and manufacturing teams to deliver test infrastructure on aggressive timelines
What they're looking for
- PLC programming (Beckhoff TwinCAT 3, IEC 61131-3 structured text)
- Industrial communication protocols (EtherCAT, Modbus, RS-232/485 serial)
- Python for control orchestration and automation
- Electrical panel design and cabinet wiring
- Real-time control systems and deterministic logic
- Test automation and ground support equipment development
- Hardware integration and debugging across full stack
- Data acquisition and visualization tools
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Varda Space Industries
Varda Space Industries builds commercial spacecraft and orbital manufacturing systems for missions in low Earth orbit, including reentry capsules and satellite buses. The company is hiring mission operations engineers, software engineers (ground segment, flight, and embedded), and manufacturing engineers to develop mission-critical systems, operational infrastructure, and scalable production capabilities.
- Website
- varda.com
Likely interview questions
- Walk us through your experience with EtherCAT — what's the most complex implementation you've worked on, and what challenges did you encounter?
- Describe a time you had to decide between implementing logic in a PLC versus Python orchestration. How did you evaluate that tradeoff?