Harness Design Engineer II
About The Position
The Harness Design Engineer II is based at Rocket Lab’s global headquarters in Long Beach, California, and primarily designs electrical harnesses for spacecraft. The role organizes interfaces, selects components, specifies harness split locations and lengths, and produces design documentation that enables the spacecraft engineering team to create accurate CAD models. It also supports electrical engineering activities for spacecraft and space systems components, including avionics circuit design, analysis, prototyping, and testing. The position works across harness design and avionics engineering, contributing to spacecraft and satellite programs in multidisciplinary teams. It develops harness and avionics documentation, supports test planning and analysis, and participates in internal design and customer-facing reviews.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or another engineering discipline.
- At least 2 years of electrical engineering or avionics experience.
- U.S. citizenship is required due to program requirements.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s or PhD 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 LT Spice, Altium, and/or the Siemens software suite, 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 layout and design, including connector and backshell selection, wire selection, and shielding.
- Generate pinout tables for harness connectors at both ends of assemblies using 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 spacecraft avionics circuits to optimize performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
- Represent the avionics electrical engineering team in internal design reviews and customer-facing review meetings.
- 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 the total compensation package.
- 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
Mid Level
