Senior Manager - TeraWave Avionics Platform

Senior Manager, Avionics Platform

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

The Emerging Systems business unit at Blue Origin is pioneering the future of space-based communications with Tera Wave, a revolutionary satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth. This multi-orbit constellation will consist of 5,408 optically interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and 128 satellites in medium Earth orbit (MEO), providing enterprise-grade connectivity for critical operations worldwide.

Blue Origin's Emerging Systems is seeking an exceptional Senior Manager to grow and lead the Avionics Platform team for Tera Wave Optical Payloads. In this role, you will drive development processes and own the full avionics scope across our optical terminal product family from architecture through qualification and into volume production, leading a multi-disciplinary team spanning hardware architecture, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, test engineering, and manufacturing engineering.

• Supply the people, processes, and tools to build and sustain a multi-disciplinary avionics organization scaled to a commercial product development cadence; manage hiring, performance reviews, compensation and promotion, and one-on-one development for your direct reports
• Lead by example, mentor team members, and create an environment where people grow into their full potential

• Lead the team to perform architecture studies, concept development, ICD development, procurement, verification planning, integration, build and checkout, and operations support across the avionics product family
• Develop interface specifications, CONOPS definitions, and design documents for avionics subsystems including hard real-time control electronics, modems, and supervisory electronics
• Coordinate hardware, software, and supplier management strategies, including fault tolerance and radiation upset tolerance schemes; own the parts, materials, and processes (PMP) control strategy for the avionics product family
• Partner with Blue Origin's radiation engineering team and avionics leads across the company to establish and enforce a program-level Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA) strategy covering multiple orbital regimes, encompassing component selection, design margin policy, test requirements, and system-level mitigation approaches across total ionizing dose (TID) and single-event effects (SEE)
• Analyze and track key performance metrics throughout the product lifecycle, continually assessing designs to optimize for manufacturability, quality, and cost
• Communicate status, risks, and challenges effectively to leadership

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related discipline
• 10+ years managing technical teams and/or leading functional groups
• 10+ years of experience in space flight avionics or electronics hardware development
• Proven ability to interpret and apply high-level system requirements to practical design solutions
• Experience in a commercial space environment, operating with commercial cost, schedule, and product line discipline
• Experience developing a product line of related products built to a common architecture, rather than single-point mission designs
• Experience building technical teams and engineering capabilities from an early stage
• Experience with electronics for precision electro-mechanical and data handling systems, including high-speed analog and digital control loops, mixed-signal design, low-noise analog front-end circuits, and high-bandwidth servo control systems
• Experience with FPGA-based embedded control systems
• Demonstrated experience with Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA) practices including component selection, design margin policies, and system-level mitigation strategies across total ionizing dose (TID) and single-event effects (SEE)
• Comfortable making and owning decisions under uncertainty in a fast-paced, resource-constrained environment

• Master's degree or PhD in a relevant engineering discipline
• Direct experience with optical communication terminal electronics
• Familiarity with highly accelerated life testing and highly accelerated stress screening (HALT and HASS)
• Experience with COTS component selection and qualification strategies for space
• Familiarity with hardware and software co-design at the system level, particularly for embedded network processing applications

At Blue Origin, we are driven by our company motto, Gradatim Ferociter, meaning "Step by Step, Ferociously." We believe in methodical innovation to achieve our vision of enabling…