Harness Design Engineer II Verified today
About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems. The Space Systems team has enabled more than 1,700 missions including interplanetary exploration, in-space manufacturing, and national security work for NASA, the Space Development Agency, and the U.S. Space Force.
The Role
Based in Long Beach, CA, you will design electrical harnesses for our spacecraft, including organizing interfaces, selecting components, specifying split locations and lengths, and generating design documentation. You will also assist in electrical engineering activities for spacecraft and space systems components, including avionics circuit design, analysis, prototyping and testing.
Harness Design Responsibilities
- Perform or support harness layout, connector and back shell selection, wire selection, and shielding for spacecraft
- Generate pinout tables for harness connectors based on spacecraft interconnect diagrams
- Create and maintain BOMs for harnessing in the product lifecycle management (PLM) 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 to assist in design of electronic assemblies for satellite and spacecraft programs
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or other engineering discipline
- 2+ years of electrical engineering or avionics experience
- U.S. citizenship required due to program requirements
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's or PhD in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or other engineering discipline
- Experience in 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 with testing electrical subsystems and assemblies, thermal vacuum or random vibration, and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) 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 and Benefits
Base pay range for CA: $108,000 to $162,000 USD. Compensation includes company stock. Benefits include Employee Stock Purchase Program (15% discount), medical plans (HMO, PPO, zero cost HDHP with 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) with company match, subsidized EV charging, onsite fitness centers (where available), discounted gym memberships, complimentary snacks and beverages, 50% employee discount on merchandise store, and other employee discounts.
Working Conditions
This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.