Harness Design Engineer I
About The Position
The Harness Design Engineer I is based at Rocket Lab’s global headquarters in Long Beach, California. The role primarily designs electrical harnesses for spacecraft, including organizing interfaces, selecting components, specifying split locations and lengths, and producing design documentation that enables the spacecraft engineering team to create accurate CAD models. The engineer also assists with electrical engineering activities for spacecraft and space systems components, including circuit design, analysis, prototyping, and testing with avionics designers. The position supports harness layout and component selection, connector pinout definition, harness bills of materials, and electrical-system and harness documentation. Avionics work includes developing test plans, analyzing and evaluating circuits, participating in design and customer reviews, and contributing to electronic assembly design in multidisciplinary teams. The role may involve prolonged periods sitting, standing, walking, and working at a computer, as well as occasional exposure to moderate noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or another engineering discipline.
- Experience with electrical engineering or avionics.
- U.S. citizenship is required due to program requirements.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s or Ph.D. in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or another engineering discipline.
- Experience in the aerospace or defense industry.
- Experience supporting satellite development programs and satellite operations.
- Thorough understanding of the space environment, orbital mechanics, and rigid-body dynamics.
- Experience with LTspice, Altium, and/or Siemens software, such as Teamcenter.
- Experience with requirements management tools such as JAMA.
- Experience testing electrical subsystems and assemblies, including thermal-vacuum, random-vibration, and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing.
- Proficiency in electronics principles and electrical systems, including power electronics, communication systems (such as RS-422, SPI, Ethernet, and CAN bus), signal integrity, and grounding.
- Proficiency with instrumentation, interfaces, and sensors, including power supplies, oscilloscopes, serial devices, accelerometers, thermocouples, RTDs, and 4–20 mA sensors.
- Ability to work in a dynamic environment with competing priorities.
Responsibilities
- Perform or support spacecraft harness design, including harness layout, connector and back-shell selection, wire selection, and shielding.
- Generate pinout tables for both ends of harness connectors based on spacecraft interconnect diagrams.
- Create and maintain harness bills of materials in the product lifecycle management (PLM) tool.
- Assist in creating electrical-system schematics and harness design documentation.
- Develop test plans and procedures for avionics subsystems and components.
- Analyze and evaluate avionics circuits to optimize performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
- Participate in internal design reviews and customer-facing review meetings as a representative of the avionics electrical engineering team.
- Work with multidisciplinary teams to assist in designing electronic assemblies for satellite and spacecraft programs.
- Assist avionics designers with circuit design, analysis, prototyping, and testing.
Benefits
- Company stock as part of total compensation.
- Employee Stock Purchase Program with a 15% discount on company stock.
- Medical plans, including HMO, PPO, and a zero-cost HDHP option with a company HSA contribution.
- Dental and vision coverage.
- Paid vacation and sick time.
- 11 paid holidays.
- Flexible spending and dependent care accounts.
- Paid parental leave.
- Disability and life insurance.
- 401(k) retirement plan with company match.
- Subsidized EV charging.
- Onsite fitness centers where available.
- Discounted gym memberships.
- Complimentary snacks and beverages.
- 50% employee discount on the company merchandise store.
- Other employee discounts.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
