Harness Design Engineer II Verified today
About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems that keep the world connected, protected, expand humanity's reach to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Space Systems Team
Our Space Systems team builds complete spacecraft, precision payloads, and subsystems including solar panels, flight software, star trackers, optical systems, separation systems, and radios. The team has enabled more than 1,700 missions ranging from interplanetary exploration to national security and defense initiatives, working with NASA, the Space Development Agency, and the U.S. Space Force.
The Role
Based in Long Beach, CA, the Harness Design Engineer II will primarily design electrical harnesses for spacecraft, organizing interfaces, selecting components, specifying split locations and lengths, and generating design documentation for CAD modelling. You will also assist in electrical engineering activities for spacecraft and space systems components, including avionics circuit design, analysis, prototyping, and testing.
What You'll Do
Harnessing responsibilities:
- Perform or support harness layout, connector and back shell selection, wire selection, and shielding design for spacecraft
- Generate pinout tables for harness connectors based on spacecraft interconnect diagrams
- Create and maintain bills of materials for harnessing in the product lifecycle management tool
- Assist in creating documentation for electrical system schematics and harness designs
Avionics responsibilities:
- Develop test plans and procedures for avionics subsystems and components
- Perform analysis and evaluations to optimize spacecraft avionics circuits for performance, reliability, and manufacturability
- Participate in internal design and customer-facing review meetings as a representative of the avionics electrical engineering team
- Work in multi-disciplinary teams on electronic assembly design for satellite and spacecraft programs
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, or other engineering discipline
- 2+ years of electrical engineering or avionics experience
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's or PhD in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, or other engineering discipline
- Experience in the aerospace/defense industry
- Experience supporting satellite development programs and satellite operations
- Understanding of space environment, orbital mechanics, and rigid body dynamics
- Experience with LT Spice, Altium, and/or Siemens software suite (Teamcenter)
- Experience with requirement management tools such as JAMA
- Experience testing electrical subsystems and assemblies, thermal vacuum testing, random vibration testing, or hardware-in-the-loop testing
- Proficiency in electronics principles and electrical systems, including power electronics, communication systems (RS-422, SPI, Ethernet, CAN bus), signal integrity, and grounding
- Proficiency with instrumentation, interfaces, and sensors, including power supplies, oscilloscopes, serial devices, accelerometers, thermocouples, RTDs, and 4-20mA sensors
- Ability to work in a dynamic environment with competing priorities
Compensation
Base salary: $100,800 to $126,000 USD.
Total compensation (base and equity): $110,875 to $143,625 USD. Anticipated annual equity grant value is designed around function, level, experience, and other factors; realized value depends on vesting and stock-price performance.
Benefits
Comprehensive benefits include company stock as part of total compensation, industry-leading Employee Stock Purchase Program with 15% discount on company stock, top-tier medical plans (HMO, PPO, zero-cost HDHP with significant HSA company 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 company merchandise, and various other employee discounts.
Working Conditions
This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, and computer work, with occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.
Employment Requirements
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations (ITAR), employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted as a refugee or asylee, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Department of Commerce.