Senior Staff Electrical Engineer – Spaceflight Hardware

IonQ; San Francisco, Louisville (CA, CO); Hybrid; USD 167,808 - 219,704; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Home technology stipend

401(k) matching

Paid holidays

Parental/adoption leave

Job summary

IonQ Capella is seeking a Senior Staff Electrical Hardware Design Engineer to own end-to-end PCBA design for spaceflight hardware. You will collaborate with RF, mechanical, software, FPGA/SoC, and operations teams to deliver high‑reliability electronics for orbit.

Lead reviews, drive DFM/DFT improvements, and mentor engineers. You will guide cross‑disciplinary teams, shape test strategies, and ensure flight readiness while scaling manufacturing from prototype to production.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or related field.
• 10+ years designing and debugging PCBAs.
• Proficiency in Altium Designer.
• Hands-on with lab instruments (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers).
• Strong understanding of digital buses (I2C, SPI, UART, RS422, CAN, USB, PCIe, Ethernet).
• Familiarity with board bring-up, test planning, and design verification workflows.
• Experience interacting with contract manufacturers, supporting DFM reviews, and resolving production issues.
• To conform to ITAR, US citizenship or eligible status is required.

Responsibilities

• Own the full electrical design lifecycle for complex spaceflight hardware from concept to in‑orbit debug.
• Develop robust analog/digital designs for mission‑critical systems.
• Lead hardware requirements and process improvements (Altium, DFM, DFT).
• Lead board‑level bring‑up and debugging, integrating firmware/software/FPGA with embedded systems.
• Define test plans and verification strategies meeting flight readiness requirements.
• Mentor engineers and collaborate across mechanical, RF, software, and systems teams.

Skills

Digital buses (I2C, SPI, UART)

Lab instrumentation

Schematic skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or related field

Master’s degree (preferred)

Tools

Altium Designer

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Power analyzers

Job description

IonQ Capella is seeking a Senior Staff Electrical Hardware Design Engineer to own end-to-end PCBA design for spaceflight hardware. You will collaborate with RF, mechanical, software, FPGA/SoC, and operations teams to deliver high‑reliability electronics for orbit.

Lead reviews, drive DFM/DFT improvements, and mentor engineers. You will guide cross‑disciplinary teams, shape test strategies, and ensure flight readiness while scaling manufacturing from prototype to production.