Urban Sky

Urban Sky

Senior Electrical Engineer

Denver, CO · Senior · Contract

Work authorization required$140k-$180kDetected 72 days ago
PythonNode.jsBudgetingSupply ChainPCB DesignAltiumEmbedded SystemsAvionicsEMI/EMCMIL-STDSystems EngineeringElectrical EngineeringPower ElectronicsSensorsResearchCommunicationMentoringRenewable Energy

About the role

  • The Senior Electrical Engineer is a hands-on technical leader responsible for the architecture, design, and validation of electrical systems for the Super Pressure Balloon project, including flight avionics, power distribution, battery/solar energy systems, CAN/RS-485 networks, satellite communications, sensor interfaces, motor/winch control electronics, and termination/cutter circuits. This role will develop design solutions that operate reliably in the stratospheric environment and support long-duration, altitude-controlled flight, rapid ground and flight test iteration, and transition from prototype builds to repeatable flight hardware.
  • This is a highly cross-functional role that touches bus avionics, Super Pressure flight electronics, motor control, and distributed power, BMS/charge controllers, pressure sensing, GPS/satcom, winch electronics, and ground/acceptance-test equipment - amongst a growing set of electronic applications. Beyond owning design, you will mentor engineers on the Super Pressure electrical and integration team, drive rigorous board checkout and validation processes, and engage directly with flight operations, manufacturing, systems engineering, and customer/program stakeholders to translate mission feedback into the next generation of hardware.
  • The Senior Electrical Engineer is a hands-on technical leader responsible for the architecture, design, and validation of electrical systems for the Super Pressure Balloon project, including flight avionics, power distribution, battery/solar energy systems, CAN/RS-485 networks, satellite communications, sensor interfaces, motor/winch control electronics, and termination/cutter circuits.

Responsibilities

  • Own architecture and design of electrical systems spanning Super Pressure flight avionics, distributed power, battery packs/BMS, solar charging, downstream DC/DC conversion, CAN/RS-485 networking, satellite communications, GPS/GNSS, pressure/temperature sensing, winch/motor control, cutter/termination circuits, and bus/interconnect boards.
  • Own power-budget and electrical-architecture trades for day/night mission profiles, battery/solar sizing, load shedding, comms blackouts, modular mission configurations, and fault-tolerant operation.
  • Serve as a technical mentor within the Super Pressure cross-functional product team - providing guidance on best practices, technical review, and coaching junior engineers through complex design trades.
  • Participate in end-user engagement to gather operational feedback and translate it into concrete design iteration priorities and requirements for SPV, optical flight test, ground test, and production-transition hardware.
  • Develop and deliver on electrical engineering design schedules, including milestone definition, risk tracking, and cross-discipline coordination with mechanical, software, firmware, systems engineering, flight operations, manufacturing, test, and program management.
  • Own hands-on checkout and diagnostic evaluation of boards - this role is not limited to a desk.
  • Drive the board checkout process and develop the test hardware, fixtures, and procedures needed to validate complex functionality ahead of system-level integration including pressure-sensor acceptance testing, burst/leak instrumentation, cutter timing tests, power-system characterization, environmental/thermal-vacuum testing, and integrated SPV flight checkout.
  • Lead design reviews (requirements, schematic, layout, and post-manufacturing) and enforce a high bar for design rigor, documentation, and traceability across prototype, flight-test, and production-intent configurations.
  • Partner with manufacturing and supply chain to ensure DFM/DFT, component availability, and second-source strategies support production ramp and rapid build/test cycles for SPV1/SPV2 and related flight articles.
  • Support flight and field operations as needed, including anomaly investigation and root-cause analysis of returned hardware and telemetry-informed fault isolation from ground tests, optical flight tests, and long-duration SP flights.

Requirements

  • Must be US Citizen or Permanent Resident
  • Must be located near Denver, CO
  • Additional information may be requested so as to determine whether export authorization is required from the Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.
  • If authorization is required, employment will be contingent upon the Company successfully obtaining such authorization from the relevant government agency.
  • 7+ years of professional electrical engineering experience, including demonstrated ownership of hardware from concept through production or flight-test deployment.
  • Familiarity with RockBLOCK/Iridium, Starlink-class satcom, low-bandwidth telemetry strategies, GPS/GNSS integration, and power-aware comms architecture.
  • B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline.
  • Deep expertise in mixed-signal PCB design: schematic capture, multi-layer layout, embedded flight electronics, rugged sensor interfaces, low-noise analog/digital measurement, protection circuits, grounding, and harness-aware board design.
  • Hands-on experience with motor control electronics (BLDC/stepper, current sensing, closed-loop control) and power electronics (DC-DC conversion, power sequencing, protection) including battery packs/BMS, solar charge control, load switching, power budgeting, and low-power duty cycling.
  • Proven track record bringing up new boards - power-on, debug, characterization, and validation against requirements with enough discipline to turn ad-hoc bench learning into repeatable procedures and acceptance tests.
  • Proficiency with industry-standard EDA tools (Altium Designer or equivalent) and lab instrumentation (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers, source meters) plus power analyzers, electronic loads, thermal chambers, and environmental-test instrumentation.
  • Experience designing for harsh environments - aerospace, automotive, defense, or equivalent - with understanding of thermal, vibration, and environmental qualification and specific interest in low-pressure, high-altitude, low-temperature, and long-duration power-limited operation.

Nice to have

  • Experience with CAN/CANopen or RS-485 networks, UART/SPI/I2C sensor integration, serial satellite modems, GPS/GNSS modules, and distributed-node architectures.
  • Experience defining system-level power budgets, derating/protection strategy, grounding, shielding, and EMI/EMC approach for battery-powered electromechanical systems.
  • Nice-to-Haves/Preferred
  • Nice-to-Haves/Preferred Skills:

Skills

  • Experience with stratospheric, space, UAV, or high-altitude systems.
  • Experience with pressure sensing, precision measurement, low-power sensor nodes, flight telemetry, and acceptance-test instrumentation.
  • Working knowledge of radiation effects (TID, SEE) and mitigation strategies for COTS electronics.
  • Familiarity with aerospace quality and reliability standards (e.g., IPC Class 3, AS9100, MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461).
  • Experience designing, testing, or qualifying termination, hot-cutter, pyro-cutter, valve, heater, or other safety-critical control circuits.
  • Experience working at the intersection of electrical, mechanical, firmware, manufacturing, and flight operations for fielded hardware.

Compensation

  • Urban Sky is required to post this salary range per Colorado law.
  • Your salary will be determined based on your abilities and experience.
  • $140,000 - $180,000 USD

Benefits

  • Medical, Vision and Dental
  • Unlimited Vacation Days
  • Parental Leave
  • Cell Phone Bill Stipend
  • Collaborate closely with firmware and software engineers to integrate telemetry, health monitoring, watchdog/reset tracking, nonvolatile configuration, battery data, comms recovery, and autonomous safe-state behavior.

Company info

  • Develop mature electrical design solutions that are manufacturable at scale and qualified to operate reliably in the stratospheric environment (low pressure, wide thermal excursions, radiation, thermal vacuum considerations) and the specific Super Pressure mission environment, including long-duration power constraints, autonomous recovery from fault modes, and field-maintainable flight hardware.
  • Our technology is also employed by government customers including the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, and others.
  • At Urban Sky we strive to create a team culture grounded in candor, inclusion, respect and empowerment.

Equal opportunity

  • equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity.

Visa & Work Authorization

  • Must be US Citizen or Permanent Resident
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