Senior Harness Design Engineer

K2 Space; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in the company

Comprehensive benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

K2 Space is building the largest and highest-power satellites; you will lead harness system design, wiring, testing and integration for Mega and Giga satellites. Collaborate with a cross-functional team to reduce cost and mass while enabling high-rate production and constellation launches.

In this role you will qualify hardware for flight, support avionics integration, and drive design trades to ensure rugged space hardware, meeting schedule demands for missions from LEO to GEO environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years in electrical harness design, routing, production, and system integration.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced startup atmosphere.
• Creative problem solver with collaborative design and development skills.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Responsible Engineer for harness system design for bus avionics, mechanisms, RF systems, and payloads.
• Define interface control documents for avionics boxes and bulkheads to optimize diagrams.
• Design, analyze, and release harnessing and mounting hardware in CAD and production drawings.
• Drive design trades to reduce cost and select harness components like connectors, wires, and heaters.
• Collaborate with manufacturing engineering to solve in-process issues and ensure reliability.
• Execute development and qualification testing of harness components for space missions in LEO/MEO/GEO.
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering to capture requirements and integrate into spacecraft systems.
• Manage project plan, milestones, and schedule execution.

Skills

Electrical harness design

Routing

System integration

Space hardware testing

CAD (NX)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering

Tools

NX CAD

Job description

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.

The Role

You willbe responsible forharness and wiringsystem design, analysis,testingand integration on some of the largest, most powerful, rapidlydesignedand manufactured satellites. You will have the unique opportunity tocollaboratewith a cross functional team of engineersand own tradesto reducecost,increaseintegrationrate,anddecreasemassof bus and payload harnessing.You will be the Responsible Engineer forharnesssystem design and components such as connectors, wire and cable,instrumentation,andheaters. You will helpestablishproduction testrequirementsand supportvehicleavionics integration to enablehigh-rateproduction andconstellation launch cadence. In your first two years, you will have qualified hardware for flight, completed avionics integration on the satellite bus, and flown yourhardware through intense LEO, MEO and GEO environments.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Responsible Engineer forharnesssystem designfor bus avionics, mechanisms, RFsystems, and payloadsacross the Mega and Giga satellites
• Define interface control documents for avionics boxes and bulkheadstooptimizesystem diagrams and schematics
• Design, analyze,and release harnessing and secondary mounting hardwareinCADand production drawingsbased on system schematicsand vehicle layout
• Drive design tradesto reduce costandselectharness components such as connectors,contacts,wire/cables,shield braid,heaters, RTDs and more
• Collaborate closely with the manufacturing engineering and technicians on the harness and electro-mechanical subassembly teamstosolve in process issues and ensure high reliability
• Execute development andqualificationtestingof harness components and assemblies for critical space missionsin MEO and GEO orbits
• Collaborate closely with the cross functionalengineeringteamsto capture requirements, lead design trades, and integrate the design into the spacecraft systems
• Effectively manage and communicate project plan, milestones, and schedule execution

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering or any equivalent combination of education and experience
• 5+ years of experience inelectrical harness design, routing, production, and system integration
• Ability to work in a fast-paced and high velocity start-up atmosphere
• Creative problem solver that can assess risk and make collaborative design and development decisions

Nice to Have

• Hands-on experience with environmental testing for space harnessing such as thermal, thermal vacuum, vibration, shock, radiation, and EMI/EMC testing per SMC-S-016
• Competence with electrical test equipment (multimeters, oscilloscopes, network analyzers, etc.)
• Strong presentation experience in highly technical design forums and reviews (Preliminary Design Reviews, Critical Design Reviews, Flight Readiness Reviews, etc.)
• Proficient with NX or similar CAD software including electrical harness routing
• Experience withpractical application of GD&T and FEA

Compensation and Benefits:

• Base salary range for this role is $150,000- $190,000+ equity in the company
• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limitedto:knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
• Comprehensive benefits package paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many otherperks

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

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