PCB Design Engineer, Avionics Hardware

About GITAI

GITAI is a space robotics company working to reduce the cost of work in space by 100x. Satellites, space stations, lunar infrastructure, and defense systems are becoming more capable and ambitious. GITAI develops robotic systems for orbital, lunar, and defense applications, designed for tasks such as assembly, inspection, maintenance, construction, and surface operations in environments where human labor is expensive, dangerous, or impractical.

As a PCB Design Engineer, Avionics Hardware at GITAI, you will own board-level electrical hardware design for spacecraft, robotic systems, and space defense programs, including interceptor-related systems. This is a PCB design and avionics hardware role, not primarily an embedded software or FPGA role. You will design, fabricate, assemble, bring‑up, and test PCBs at the board level and collaborate closely with mechanical, firmware, software, systems, propulsion and manufacturing teams to integrate hardware into the full vehicle or robotic system.

• Own PCB design for avionics hardware from early architecture through schematic, layout, fabrication release, assembly, bring-up, and test.
• Design schematics and PCB layouts in Altium or similar ECAD tools, including stackup definition, layout constraints, design rules, fabrication notes, assembly drawings, and release packages.
• Make practical board-level design trade-offs across electrical performance, manufacturability, reliability, thermal behavior, packaging, component availability, testability, schedule, and cost.
• Collaborate with mechanical engineers on board shape, mounting, connector placement, harness routing, enclosure constraints, thermal paths, vibration constraints, and assembly sequence.
• Collaborate with firmware and software engineers on interfaces, board bring‑up, telemetry, debugging, fault handling, test coverage, and hardware/software integration.
• Collaborate with systems, propulsion, and manufacturing teams to ensure avionics hardware works inside the full vehicle or robotic system.
• Apply DFM, DFA, and DFT principles early in the design process and work directly with PCB fabrication and assembly vendors to resolve manufacturing issues before and during builds.
• Select components with attention to electrical performance, lifecycle risk, lead time, procurement constraints, package size, thermal behavior, derating, and test access.
• Bring up and debug PCBAs using lab equipment, test fixtures, firmware tools, and system-level test setups.
• Support integration, environmental testing, field testing, and failure investigations by identifying root causes and driving design changes quickly.
• Create and maintain clear engineering documentation including schematics, layout files, BOMs, fabrication packages, assembly notes, test plans, issue logs, and design review materials.
• Move hardware forward in an early-stage startup environment with changing requirements and interfaces.

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a closely related hardware engineering field, or equivalent hands‑on experience.
• 3+ years of hands‑on PCB design experience using Altium or a similar ECAD tool.
• 1+ year of full‑time experience at an early‑stage hardware startup, ideally Seed to Series B.
• Experience personally owning PCB designs from schematic capture through layout, fabrication release, assembly support, board bring‑up, and test.
• Strong understanding of PCB fabrication and assembly, including stackups, layout constraints, fabrication notes, component placement, inspection, DFM/DFA/DFT, and vendor feedback.
• Ability to make and explain board-level design trade-offs across electrical performance, manufacturability, reliability, thermal behavior, packaging, component availability, testability, cost, and schedule.
• Experience integrating electrical hardware with mechanical, firmware, software, systems, and manufacturing teams.
• Hands‑on experience debugging PCBAs using lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power supplies, electronic loads, multimeters, and test fixtures.
• Experience with mixed-signal, power, high-speed digital, sensor, communication,…