Principal Hardware Engineer – TeraWave Network Switch Platform

BLUE ORIGIN

Principal Hardware Engineer designing hardware for TeraWave satellite communication systems at Blue Origin. Involves complex hardware design and interfacing with cross-functional teams.

Posted 5/27/2026full-timeLos Angeles • California, Virginia, Washington • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $183,193 - $256,469 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AssemblyRuby on RailsSwitching

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own the end-to-end hardware design of the switching subsystem from high-speed Ethernet switch and PHY integration to power architecture, embedded management controllers, and high-speed PCB layout.
Architect BMC subsystems using MPSoC, ARM, or RISC-V microprocessors to monitor line card health, thermal sensors, and voltage rails.
Design and integrate low-level communication buses (I2C, SPI, PMBus, SMBus, RS-485, CAN) for hardware telemetry and sequencing control.
Develop hardware watchdog circuits and redundant boot sequences for fault recovery.
Enable in-flight firmware reprogrammability via ground link, including secure update and rollback mechanisms.
Architect high-reliability power distribution with autonomous sequencing, redundant paths (e.g., ORing controllers), and fault isolation to eliminate single points of failure.
Specify and integrate radiation-hardened or radiation-tolerant components rated for SEE and TID in the target orbital environment.
Design power stages for thermal-vacuum operation, emphasizing high-efficiency topologies and conduction/radiation thermal transfer.
Architect low-noise power trees using high-PSRR LDOs and multi-stage LC filtering to protect sensitive analog and high-speed digital lanes.
Lead SPICE-based transient analysis and hardware validation of load step responses, switching transients, and voltage ripple to millivolt-level tolerances.
Develop EMI/EMC mitigation strategies — grounding architecture, decoupling optimization, power/signal plane isolation — to prevent crosstalk between power distribution and high-speed data paths.
Lead multi-layer PCB design for switch line cards: stackup definition, impedance-controlled routing, thermal management, and DFM.
Manage CCA BOM procurement, vendor coordination, and assembly oversight.
Integrate BSPs, SDKs, and device drivers for Ethernet switching and network processor components in collaboration with firmware and software teams.
Architect and bring up high-performance Ethernet switching systems, including NPU/switch ASIC integration, PHY and SerDes tuning, VLAN configuration, and MAC-level validation across high-density line cards.
Resolve complex hardware-software interface issues across L1 and L2, including physical layer bring-up, transceiver integration, and MAC-level debugging.
Lead factory acceptance testing, physical layer validation (optical transceivers, high-density copper), and commissioning of switch hardware.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
10+ years of experience in hardware design, power electronics, or embedded systems in a product development environment
Track record of designing and shipping complex electronic products through development into production
Experience designing multi-layer PCBs with high-speed digital interfaces and mixed-signal power distribution; proficiency in Altium, Cadence, or equivalent
Hands-on experience designing and integrating high-speed Ethernet switch hardware, including network processors (NPUs), SerDes interfaces, and optical or copper PHY technologies
Strong knowledge of power supply design (DC-DC converters, LDOs, sequencing, transient analysis) with hands-on SPICE simulation experience
Experience with embedded microprocessor design (ARM, RISC-V, or similar) including BSP integration and peripheral bus bring-up (I2C, SPI, UART, CAN)
Practical EMI/EMC mitigation and signal/power integrity analysis experience
Excellent technical documentation and communication skills

Benefits

Comp & perks

Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance
Paid parental leave
Short and long-term disability
401(k) with a company match of up to 5%
Education Support Program
Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours
Up to 14 company-paid holidays

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

hardware designpower electronicsembedded systemsmulti-layer PCB designhigh-speed Ethernet switch hardwarenetwork processorspower supply designSPICE simulationEMI/EMC mitigationsignal integrity analysis

Soft Skills

technical documentationcommunication skillsleadershipvendor coordinationproblem-solving

Certifications

Bachelor's degree in Electrical EngineeringBachelor's degree in Computer Engineering