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Senior PCB Designer Verified today

Kapta Space · Redmond, WA · Electronics · first seen 2026-09-03
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Kapta Space is seeking a Senior PCB Designer to own the architecture, execution, and quality assurance of printed circuit board layouts for our Metasurface electronically-steered array (MESA) hardware. This role combines hands-on technical layout work with design standards and processes in a small, multidisciplinary team. You will work on high-speed, mixed-signal, RF, and power boards for spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and advanced defense target-tracking missions.

Key Responsibilities

  • Design PCB layouts for high-speed digital, mixed-signal, RF front-end, and power management boards supporting spaceborne radar payloads and phased-array antenna modules.
  • Collaborate with the Responsible Engineer to define and maintain board-level architecture, layer stack-ups, and routing strategies ensuring signal integrity, impedance control, and EMI/EMC compliance.
  • Execute detailed component placement and routing for complex multi-layer designs including high-density BGAs, SERDES, DDR, FPGA, and high-frequency RF interconnects.
  • Own full lifecycle design from schematic collaboration and layout execution through DFM efforts, fabrication, assembly, and bring-up support.
  • Integrate board design within mechanical, RF, thermal, and system-level constraints, ensuring mechanical compatibility, manufacturability, and serviceability.
  • Serve as point of contact for standardized PCB layout, DFM/DFA/DFT rules, ECAD constraint management, and component-library oversight.
  • Participate in formal design reviews, enforce design rules, and ensure documentation packages meet aerospace and defense standards.
  • Coordinate with Contract Design Services partners and PCB fabrication and assembly vendors to ensure alignment with internal engineering standards and compliance with stack-up, impedance, and material specifications for space and defense environments.
  • Contribute to supply-chain readiness and material qualification efforts for high-reliability boards, such as polyimide, low-outgassing, or radiation-tolerant materials.

Required Qualifications

  • Associates or Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related discipline, or demonstrated equivalent skills and experience.
  • Significant professional PCB layout experience.
  • Significant experience as a principal-level individual contributor working with multi-disciplinary engineering teams delivering complex spaceborne hardware.
  • Expert proficiency in Altium Designer and strong command of constraint-driven design.
  • Understanding of impedance control, differential pair routing, grounding strategies, thermal management, and EMI/EMC mitigation.
  • Significant experience with DFM/DFA/DFT principles and close collaboration with PCB fabrication and assembly vendors.
  • Familiarity with aerospace or defense hardware design requirements including shock, vibration, thermal, radiation, and reliability.
  • Experience leading Altium toolchain integration, library management, and automation or scripting.
  • Excellent communication skills, with ability to present to senior leadership and collaborate with customers and suppliers.
  • Must be eligible to work on U.S. export-controlled projects (ITAR).
  • U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residency, or refugee or asylee status required to conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations.

Bonus Experience

  • PCB design for spacecraft payloads, synthetic aperture radar systems, or electronically-steered RF arrays.
  • 3D ECAD/MCAD co-design workflows and mechanical constraint management.
  • IPC Class 3 and NASA or MIL specifications for PCB fabrication and assembly.
  • High-power or high-voltage design practices and power-integrity simulation tools.
  • Layout skills for Power and Signal Integrity.
  • Knowledge of thermal transfer through PCB materials.
  • High-frequency RF routing principles and circuits.
  • Mission-critical hardware development for space and/or defense environments.
  • Complex multi-layer PCBs with high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, DDR, SERDES, JESD, or Ethernet.
  • Occasional travel to fabrication partners or testing facilities.
  • Flexibility to support critical program milestones during extended hours when necessary.