Harness Design Engineer

Heaviside Industries; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

401(k) plan

Medical, vision & dental coverage

Job summary

Heaviside Industries, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, designs wiring harnesses for autonomous unmanned vehicles, guiding them from requirements through schematics, tests, and production handoff.

The role involves bench and field troubleshooting, defining acceptance tests, and supporting on-floor builds while ensuring ITAR compliance and cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering or closely related field.
• 1–3 years hands-on experience with vehicle wiring and harness design.
• Have designed at least one complete harness from scratch.
• Comfortable using a multimeter, an oscilloscope, a crimper, and a soldering iron.
• U.S. Person as defined by ITAR (22 CFR 120.62).

Responsibilities

• Design wiring harnesses for small unmanned vehicles from requirements to production drawings.
• Read harness schematics and sensor datasheets to determine power, signal, and grounding needs.
• Troubleshoot vehicles on bench and in field for shorts, opens, or loose connections.
• Trace root causes for sensor or motor failures end-to-end.
• Move harnesses from prototype to production with BOMs and build instructions.
• Define and run harness acceptance tests and vehicle electrical checkout.
• Support builds on the floor and iterate designs from field learning.

Skills

Harness design

Autonomous hardware

Electrical testing

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Multimeter

Oscilloscope

Crimper

Soldering iron

Job description

Heaviside Industries builds multi-domain autonomous precision munitions for U.S. and allied special operations and conventional forces. While modern warfare has rapidly evolved with the proliferation of unmanned systems, hyper-precise munitions in contested environments are the future of the battlefield. Economical precision strike capabilities are critical to U.S. and allied war efforts, enabling successful defeat of enemy military assets and infrastructure. Heaviside builds precision munitions designed to operate in GPS-denied and spectrum-jammed battlefields—where traditional systems degrade or fail—without inflated prices or sacrifice to performance.

All engineering and manufacturing is conducted in-house in Heaviside’s Los Angeles, CA headquarters and Oslo, Norway office.

Heaviside is backed by Interlagos, Menlo Ventures, Flume Ventures, Cantos, Anorak Ventures, and Ravelin Ventures.

What You Will Do

• Design wiring harnesses for small unmanned vehicles from the ground up: requirements, schematics, pinouts, connector selection, wire gauge and circuit protection, shielding and grounding
• Read harness schematics and sensor datasheets, work out what each sensor needs for power, signal, and grounding, and route power to it safely
• Troubleshoot vehicles on the bench and in the field: shorts, opens, intermittent connections, bad crimps, ground problems, and electrical noise
• Root-cause sensor or motor problems end to end—when a sensor or motor stops working, isolate whether the fault is the sensor, the connector, the cable, the power, or the software talking to it
• Take harnesses from prototype to production: formal drawings, formboard layouts, BOMs, labeling, and build and test instructions a technician or contract manufacturer can follow
• Define and run harness acceptance tests (continuity, pull) and vehicle-level electrical checkout
• Support builds on the floor, review technician work, guide technicians, and fold what you learn back into the design

What We Are Looking For

• BS in Electrical Engineering or a closely related field
• 1 to 3 years of hands-on experience with vehicle wiring and harness design
• You have designed at least one complete harness from a blank page through build and debug, not just modified someone else's
• Comfortable with a multimeter, an oscilloscope, a crimper, and a soldering iron
• Self-starter: you work autonomously, ask good questions early, and do not wait to be told what to do next
• U.S. Person as defined by ITAR (22 CFR 120.62)

Additional Information

Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

(https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987).

Heaviside is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Heaviside is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, physical disability or any other legally protected status.