Senior Staff Electrical Engineer

IonQ•San Francisco, CA

3d•$167,808 - $219,704•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Senior Staff Electrical Hardware Design Engineer, you will take ownership of full-cycle PCBA designs, from early concept to flight readiness and in-orbit debug. You will work cross-functionally with RF, mechanical, software, FPGA/SoC, and operations teams to bring high-reliability, space-ready electronics to orbit. You will guide the Electrical Engineering team on special areas and drive projects across disciplines to help facilitate ideas, product readiness, and conduct reviews.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or related field
10+ years of experience designing and debugging PCBAs
Proficiency in Altium Designer (or similar ECAD tools)
Hands-on experience with lab instruments (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, etc.)
Solid understanding of digital buses (I2C, SPI, UART, RS422, CAN, USB, PCIe, Ethernet etc.)
Familiarity with board bring-up, test planning, and design verification workflows
Experience interacting with contract manufacturers, supporting DFM reviews, and resolving production issues
Strong documentation habits and organizational skills
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Capella Employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce, as applicable.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in electrical engineering or related field
Experience designing for harsh environments (thermal, vacuum, vibration, radiation)
Familiarity with high-speed design or impedance-controlled layouts
Basic scripting or automation in Python or C for hardware test workflows
Exposure to radiation effects and mitigation in electronic design
Familiarity with EMI/EMC design practices and validation
Familiarity with satellite electrical systems engineering (propulsion, (EPS) Electrical Power System, (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System, (ADCS) Attitude Determination and Control System, space robotics, etc)

Responsibilities

Own the full electrical design lifecycle for complex spaceflight hardware: Concept of operations, requirements engineering, schematic capture, layout, bring-up, test, manufacturing handoff, and in-orbit debug
Develop robust analog/digital designs for mission-critical systems under environmental and performance constraints
Organize collaborative cross disciplinary design reviews sharing feedback and shaping solutions with a team of experienced engineers
Provide critical input to schedule planning as well as mission and system requirements
Lead hardware requirements and process improvements (Altium, DFM, DFT)
Lead board-level bring-up and debugging, integrating firmware/software/FPGA with embedded systems
Define test plans and verification strategies that meet flight readiness requirements
Play a key role in scaling up our manufacturing facility bringing hardware from prototype to low-volume production
Lead collaboration across teams- mechanical, harness, RF, software, FPGA/SoC, and systems to ensure seamless integration
Mentor early- and mid-career engineers contributing to internal process improvements and elevating the overall quality of the team
Engage with external vendors and CMs, ensuring delivery quality, resolving DFM/DFT issues, and ensuring on-time delivery
Drive failure analysis and root-cause investigations across flight or test anomalies