Varda Space
Ground Support Automation & Controls Engineer II
$120K–$153K
El Segundo, California, United States · Full-time · Posted Oct 27, 2026
- Experience
- 2+ years of industry experience in test automation, controls, and/or industrial automation.
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, or related technical field.
- Visa sponsorship
- Must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) because the role provides access to export-controlled items.
About the job
Builds and maintains test infrastructure and ground support equipment to qualify spaceflight hardware and support manufacturing operations.
What you'll do
- Design, build, maintain, and commission test systems and GSE, including electrical panels and control software.
- Integrate test systems with external hardware and extend Varda’s internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling.
- Contribute to control-system architecture decisions and partner with engineering and manufacturing teams to deliver test infrastructure.
What they ask for
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related technical field.
- 2+ years of industry experience in test automation, controls, and/or industrial automation.
- Hands-on integration with industrial hardware using protocols such as EtherCAT, Modbus (TCP/RTU), or RS-232/485 serial.
- Experience with a modern PLC ecosystem, ideally Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 with structured text (IEC 61131-3), or eagerness to develop deep expertise there.
Nice to have
- Experience with custom control frameworks, advanced EtherCAT, TwinCAT 3, or deterministic hard real-time control.
- Experience in aerospace testing, environmental tests, high-pressure systems, propulsion test stands, or safety-related controls.
Pay
$119,543 - $152,749 USD base salary
Tools
EtherCAT, Modbus (TCP/RTU), RS-232/485 serial, Beckhoff TwinCAT 3, structured text (IEC 61131-3), Python, Grafana, InfluxDB
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative