Varda Space Industries
Hardware Controls Engineer II - Automation
About this role
Varda seeks a Controls Engineer II to design and build sophisticated ground support equipment and test systems that qualify spaceflight hardware for orbit. You'll work with modern PLC frameworks, EtherCAT tooling, and own test infrastructure end-to-end—from propulsion stands to environmental chambers—while contributing to architecture decisions for a growing commercial space company.
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, and precision instrumentation
- Develop and extend Varda's internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling using TwinCAT 3
- Evaluate real-time control approaches and contribute to architecture decisions for PLC versus Linux-based systems
- Build electrical cabinets and wire panels, owning systems 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 hardware integration (EtherCAT, Modbus, RS-232/485 serial)
- Electrical panel design and cabinet wiring
- Real-time control systems and deterministic control loops
- Python for orchestration and automation
- Data acquisition and visualization (Grafana, InfluxDB)
- Thermal vacuum and environmental test systems
- Aerospace and spacecraft testing experience
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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
- Tell us about a complex test system or GSE you've built end-to-end—what were the key design decisions and challenges?
- Describe your experience with EtherCAT and TwinCAT 3. How have you debugged timing or synchronization issues in a real-time control loop?