Senior Applications Engineer

Skills this role screens for

About the role

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

Varda is seeking a Senior Applications Engineer to join our team. In this role you will be responsible for leading efforts to develop, deploy, improve, and manage all Engineering applications. You will manage the implementation of these solutions through the entire product life cycle from opportunity identification to support and sustainment. You will work cross-functionally with multiple engineering teams across Varda to ensure tools are integrated, compliant, and scaled to support hardware and software development workflows. Projects will include a wide range of desired outcomes including cycle time reduction, cost reduction, improved decision making, risk reduction, configuration control, and any other key operational efficiency. Your contributions will immediately impact engineering operations and have an opportunity to contribute to Varda's overall growth and success. This role will report to the Director of Enterprise Applications.

This is a full-time, exempt position located in our El Segundo headquarters.

The work

Responsibilities

• Serve as the single point of accountability for engineering systems (PLM, CAD/PDM, MBSE, engineering change management, and similar platforms).
• Administer and optimize engineering platforms across daily operations, ensuring data integrity, configuration control, and compliance alignment.
• Design and build custom analytics dashboards and reports using tools like Power BI, SQL, and Python to surface actionable insights for engineering and manufacturing stakeholders.
• Map, document, and re-engineer engineering workflows to eliminate manual bottlenecks, reduce cycle times, and improve data capture at the source.
• Develop and maintain internal applications (low-code/no-code and custom-built) that automate repetitive tasks and augment decision-making across engineering workflows.
• Build and ingest ETL pipelines that connect engineering tools into the broader enterprise data layer.
• Support compliance documentation for engineering systems and processes, including AS9100 and CMMC validation workflows.
• Triage and resolve application issues, coordinate with vendors on escalations, and manage release cycles for system updates and patches.
• Create training materials and lead hands-on enablement sessions to drive user adoption and reduce shadow IT across engineering teams.
• Evaluate, pilot, and deploy AI-powered and generative tools to enterprise standards, managing their lifecycle and governance.
• Own data governance and quality standards for engineering data, defining data owners, enforcing naming conventions, and monitoring data lineage across systems.
• Assist IT and Infosec with permission-based access, tracking, and compliance.
• Evaluate new tools, platforms, and vendors to support make/buy decisions and ensure engineering systems integrate cleanly into the broader enterprise architecture.
• Track and report on system health, adoption KPIs, and project status to engineering leadership and enterprise stakeholders.

Who they want

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering or similar role with coding requirements.
• Capability to gather business requirements from stakeholders and take a project from initial concept to finished product.
• Ability to work with end users to rapidly iterate prototype applications by solving end user issues.
• Hands-on experience with business process mapping and re-engineering using structured methodologies.
• Ability to work independently as the sole technical resource within a business unit, managing competing priorities without day-to-day technical oversight.
• Ability to translate technical concepts to non-technical audiences for stakeholders internal and external to the organization.
• Proficiency in SQL and at least one scripting/programming language (Python, JavaScript, or similar).
• Demonstrated experience building reports and dashboards in a BI platform (Power BI, Tableau, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with engineering data domains (BOM structures, CAD metadata, change order workflows) and willingness to develop deep expertise in aerospace engineering data standards.
• Familiarity with data integration patterns (ETL/ELT) and tools such as Alteryx, dbt, SSIS, or Informatica.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to produce system design documentation, SOPs, and training materials for non-technical engineering stakeholders.
• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts and hands-on experience using LLM-based tools in a professional setting.
• Familiarity with version control systems (Git) and software development lifecycle fundamentals including code review and CI/CD practices.

Nice to have

Preferred Skills and Qualifications

• Graduate degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related fields.
• Experience supporting or managing enterprise engineering applications (PLM, CAD/PDM, MBSE, or engineering change management tools).
• Experience with MBSE toolchains (CAMEO, Capella) and engineering change management workflows.
• Experience with AS9100 and/or CMMC compliance documentation and audit support.
• Proficiency with low-code/no-code platforms (Alteryx, Power Apps, or similar) for rapid application development.
• Experience with cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, AWS Redshift) and modern ELT architectures.
• Experience with Microsoft products (Teams, Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket) and their APIs.
• Proven track record of architecting and sustaining AI-powered solutions that drove measurable adoption across large user populations.
• Experience with aerospace and defense enterprise systems, manufacturing workflows, or supply chain operations.
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Project Management Professional (PMP), or Lean Six Sigma certification.
• Track record of building workflow automation or custom tooling that eliminated manual processes, with quantifiable outcomes such as hours saved, error reduction, or user adoption metrics in a regulated environment.
• Experience conducting or contributing to platform trade studies or build-vs-buy evaluations for data infrastructure.…