Electronics Engineer

Dawn Aerospace has become the biggest green propulsion provider in the world, and our ambitions are even greater. We’re growing our portfolio of products to be even more performant, reliable and mass-manufacturable.

As an Electronics Engineer, you will directly contribute to the design, qualification, and production of high-reliability electronics for our space propulsion systems. You will play a key role in developing flight-ready propulsion electronics, working across design, testing, and manufacturing in close collaboration with systems, mechanical, and production teams.

This role is open for both Intermediate and Senior Engineers. The scope of responsibility and technical ownership will be aligned to experience and capability.

This role combines hands-on electronics engineering with end-to-end ownership and offers exposure to the full lifecycle of flight hardware, from early concepts and prototypes through qualification and release to production.

If you want a role where you can just do the same thing every day, then this is not for you. We’re looking for a highly motivated, talented Electronics/Aviation Engineer who is unafraid to own complex problems and their solution.

What You’ll Do

• Design and develop mixed-signal, power, and embedded electronics for space applications
• Detailed design of in-space electronics including component selection, schematics capture and layout using KiCAD and maintain designs in Git
• Apply ECSS/NASA design practices to ensure reliability and robustness in the space environment
• Plan and execute verification, qualification, and acceptance test campaigns
• Perform hands-on bring-up, debugging, and root-cause analysis using standard lab equipment
• Support new product development from concept through design, test, and production
• Contribute to manufacturing support and continuous improvement of released hardware
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver hardware on schedule

What we’re looking for

• Bachelor’s degree in Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering, or demonstration of equivalent ability

• Minimum 3+ years' experience designing, building, and testing electronics hardware
• Strong understanding of electric circuit design fundamentals and electrical engineering principles
• Passion for PCB design and developing high reliability electronics
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and ability to communicate technical topics clearly
• Strong PCB schematic and layout design ability using KiCAD, Altium or similar.
• Practical experience using laboratory test equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies, electronic loads)
• Familiarity with Python for basic testing or analysis
• Experience with version control (Git or similar)

What will set you apart

• Experience with design and testing for EMC
• Design for high reliability, fault-tolerant systems
• Experience with electronics radiation tolerance and testing
• Experience with component selection for extreme environments
• Familiarity with high-reliability standards (ECSS, NASA, automotive, or medical)
• Understanding of DFM/DFT principles
• Experience with robust testing or qualification regimes

We welcome engineers from all industries, especially those from high-performance environments.

Why Dawn?

Our teams are small, highly capable, and move quickly. You’ll work hands-on as part of Dawn’s propulsion team, alongside the engineers developing our spaceplane and in-space hardware, with real ownership from early concepts through to flight-ready systems that actually fly. We expect engineers to solve difficult problems, make decisions, and see their work have a direct impact on the future of space access.

Based in Christchurch, you’ll be part of a globally ambitious aerospace and deep-tech community, with mountains, coastline, and adventure on your doorstep.