Electrical Engineering Intern

About Dispatch

Dispatch is building refurbishable reentry vehicles for in-space manufacturing. Spark-1 is our first vehicle, a 150 kg spacecraft that hosts payloads in orbit and brings them back to Earth.

Our vehicles are designed, built, and operated in-house, from spacecraft systems and flight software through reentry and recovery.

About This Role

Internships at Dispatch are full-time and on-site in San Francisco. Candidates must be actively pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree. Due to U.S. export control requirements, candidates must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident). We are unable to sponsor visas.

The Avionics team is responsible for the power system, flight computer, sensor and actuator interfaces, radio, and harness that operate Spark-1 from launch vehicle separation through recovery.

Interns at Dispatch work directly on problems that affect upcoming missions. You'll own meaningful technical work and collaborate closely with engineers across flight software, GNC, and vehicle systems as we design, test, and operate Spark-1.

Responsibilities

• Own or contribute to the design, bring-up, and test of power, heater control, and interface electronics for Spark-1

• Design, build, and test flight and flatsat harness, including drawings, continuity, and isolation testing

• Develop electrical ground support equipment such as battery and solar array simulators, load banks, and automated test scripts

• Perform power budget, derating, grounding, and radiation effects analysis on flight electronics and part selections

• Support integration and test of avionics with flight software, GNC sensors and actuators, and payload interfaces

Basic Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a BS, MS, or PhD in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a related technical field

• Experience through coursework, research, internships, or engineering project teams in one or more areas of power electronics, embedded systems, PCB design, mixed-signal circuits, or hardware test

• Familiarity with schematic capture and layout tools such as Altium or KiCad, and with bench equipment such as oscilloscopes, power supplies, and electronic loads

• Comfortable designing, building, and debugging circuits and turning test results into design changes

Preferred Skills and Experience

• At least one year of experience on a technical project team such as CubeSat, Rocket Team, AIAA Design-Build-Fly, Formula SAE, or similar

• Previous experience designing and bringing up electronics for spacecraft, launch vehicles, robotics, or other embedded hardware

• Familiarity with switching power supplies, battery management, motor drives, or high-reliability parts selection

• Experience with embedded firmware in C++, FPGA or Zynq development, or EMI/EMC and grounding design

• Strong communication and technical documentation skills

Due to U.S. export control requirements, candidates must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident). We are unable to sponsor visas.

Interview Process

• 30 minute video call with a founder
• 1 hour technical video interview with an engineer