Staff, Harness Engineering Manager

Kodiak•Mountain View, CA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. is a leader in autonomous ground transportation, developing AI-powered technology for commercial trucking and the public sector. The company is seeking a Lead Harness Engineer/Manager to lead harness architecture and strategy for their autonomous vehicle platform. This is a hands-on role responsible for the technical direction of harness design across the entire vehicle system (high speed, low voltage, and high power), and for establishing the standards, processes, and supplier relationships for the harness engineering function. The role involves driving cross-functional alignment with electrical, mechanical, integration, and manufacturing teams, and mentoring engineers.

Requirements

BS or MS in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent experience.
10+ years of hardware development experience, including automotive, aerospace, or related safety-critical industries, with a track record of technical leadership.
Deep expertise in electrical harness design, architecture, and manufacturing at the system level.
Proven experience setting design/quality standards and mentoring or leading engineers or teams.
Strong troubleshooting skillset with hands-on root cause analysis experience.
Expert familiarity with IPC quality standards (IPC/WHMA-A-620, etc.) and their application to program-level quality processes.
Experience with implementation and on-vehicle debugging of low-level hardware buses (CAN, Ethernet, LIN).
Demonstrated ability to lead supplier negotiations and manage external manufacturing partnerships.
Hands-on. Comfortable in the shop debugging a subsystem and in the room driving architecture decisions.
Excellent communicator — experience writing and reviewing clear, concise technical documentation and presenting to leadership.
Passion for autonomous vehicles and their potential impact.

Responsibilities

Own the technical strategy and architecture for wire harness and subassembly design across the vehicle platform, balancing high speed, low voltage, and high power requirements.
Set and enforce design standards, review processes, and DFM/DFA practices for harness schematics, diagrams, and system interconnect diagrams.
Drive make/buy and supplier strategy for harness manufacturing; own key external manufacturing partner relationships and scale-up readiness.
Lead trade studies on harness architecture (topology, routing, connector strategy, EMI/signal integrity tradeoffs) with system-level cost, weight, and reliability impact.
Own full program lifecycle governance: technical reviews, DVP&R, outsourced cable manufacturing, qualification testing, and release.
Lead or oversee root cause analysis on complex/escalated electrical system issues; drive corrective and preventive action across teams.
Define and champion automated harness validation tooling and test strategy.
Mentor and provide technical leadership to harness and electrical engineers and directly manage a harness engineering team.
Represent harness engineering in cross-functional and executive-level design reviews with Software, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Systems, and external suppliers.

Benefits

Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses
Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
MetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance
Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies
Dog-friendly office
Free catered lunch
Fully stocked kitchen
Free EV charging
Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance
Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation)
Fidelity 401(k)
Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA
Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)