Senior Staff Electrical Hardware Engineer - Space Systems

Capella Space; Colorado; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Capella, an IonQ company, is seeking a Senior Staff Electrical Hardware Design Engineer to own full‑cycle PCBA designs for spaceflight hardware. You will collaborate with RF, mechanical, software, FPGA/SoC, and operations teams to craft high‑reliability electronics for flight readiness and in‑orbit debug.

You will lead hardware design reviews, mentor engineers, and drive cross‑functional integration while guiding manufacturing from prototype to production, all under ITAR compliance and tight

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or related field
• 10+ years of experience designing and debugging PCBAs
• Proficiency in Altium Designer
• Hands-on experience with lab instruments (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers)
• Familiarity with board bring-up, test planning, and design verification workflows
• Experience interacting with contract manufacturers and resolving production issues, DFM reviews, and ITAR compliance requirements

Responsibilities

• Own the full electrical design lifecycle for complex spaceflight hardware: Concept of operations, requirements engineering, schematic capture, layout, bring-up, test, manufacturing handoff, and in-orbit debug
• Develop robust analog/digital designs for mission-critical systems under environmental and performance constraints
• Organize collaborative cross-disciplinary design reviews sharing feedback and shaping solutions with a team of engineers
• Provide input to schedule planning as well as mission and system requirements
• 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 that meet flight readiness requirements
• Scale up manufacturing to move hardware from prototype to low-volume production
• Collaborate across teams to ensure seamless integration
• Mentor early- and mid-career engineers and improve internal processes
• Engage with external vendors and CMs to ensure on-time delivery and resolve DFM/DFT issues
• Drive failure analysis and root-cause investigations across flight or test anomalies

Skills

PCB design

Altium Designer

Lab instrumentation

Digital buses

DFM/DFT

Documentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Power analyzers

Job description

Capella, an IonQ company, is seeking a Senior Staff Electrical Hardware Design Engineer to own full‑cycle PCBA designs for spaceflight hardware. You will collaborate with RF, mechanical, software, FPGA/SoC, and operations teams to craft high‑reliability electronics for flight readiness and in‑orbit debug.

You will lead hardware design reviews, mentor engineers, and drive cross‑functional integration while guiding manufacturing from prototype to production, all under ITAR compliance and tight