Varda Space Industries
Terrestrial Automation and Controls Engineer II
About this role
Varda seeks an Automation and 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 industrial hardware integration while partnering across propulsion, avionics, and manufacturing teams on aggressive timelines.
What you'll do
- Design, build, and maintain test systems and ground support equipment for flight hardware qualification
- Integrate with external hardware including thermal vacuum chambers, ovens, chillers, and precision instrumentation
- Develop and extend Varda's internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling
- Contribute to architecture decisions on real-time control implementation using PLC and Linux-based approaches
- Build electrical cabinets and wire panels, owning systems end-to-end from design through commissioning
- Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, 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)
- Electrical panel and cabinet design/wiring
- Real-time control systems and deterministic loops
- Ground support equipment (GSE) development
- Python orchestration and control software
- Data acquisition and visualization tools
- 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
- Walk us through a time you designed and built a complete test system from electrical design to commissioning—what were the biggest challenges?
- Describe your experience with EtherCAT integration. Have you worked with DC sync, ENI configuration, or master implementation?