Staff Harness Engineer

Location: This role is based onsite at our Louisville, CO office.

Travel: Up to 10%, domestic or international.

Job ID: 577

About Capella

Capella, an IonQ company, spans national security, advanced sensing, and next-generation compute to deliver secure, mission-ready intelligence. Capella’s culture is built on collaboration, rigorous engineering, and a shared commitment to delivering solutions that strengthen global stability and security. Team members work side-by-side with some of the most innovative minds in space systems, quantum-enabled technologies, and mission-critical operations.

Capella values curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to tackle hard problems with precision and creativity. Capella welcomes and encourages applicants whose perspectives are historically underrepresented in technology, national security, and aerospace. No prior space experience is required. Diverse viewpoints strengthen Capella’s ability to innovate and deliver meaningful impact for partners worldwide.

The Role

As a Staff Electrical Hardware Design Engineer, you will take ownership of full-cycle PCBA designs, from early concept to flight readiness. You will work cross-functionally with RF, mechanical, software, FPGA/SoC, and operations teams to bring high-reliability, space-ready electronics to orbit. You will guide the Electrical Engineering team on special topics and present across disciplines to help facilitate ideas, product readiness, and conduct reviews.

Responsibilities

Design System Level harnesses from power distribution to high-speed communications

Own the harness design lifecycle and implement harness design best practices

Collaborate across teams—mechanical, RF, electrical, and systems—to ensure seamless integration. Knowledge of industry-standard electrical design principles, to include, but not limited to electrical component selection, testing, manufacturing, and production processes

Technical point of contact for Wire, Cable, Connector, and Harness suppliers

Support resolving non-conformances from harness suppliers

Provide critical input to schedule planning, hardware requirements, and process improvements

Define test plans and verification strategies that meet flight readiness requirements

What Success Looks Like

You consistently deliver flight-quality harnesses on schedule with minimal oversight

You proactively identify and articulate system-level risks and drive mitigations early

You communicate across hardware/software and cross-functional gaps with confidence and clarity

You make thoughtful trade-offs in constrained environments and justify them with data

You show curiosity about advanced areas like architecture optimization or radiation mitigation, even if they’re outside your scope for now

You exhibit advanced wide-ranging experience in harness engineering, using in-depth professional knowledge

You get things done, align with stakeholders, and document concisely

Requirements

Bachelor of Science or higher from an accredited college in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or related discipline, or equivalent experience/combined education

5+ years’ experience designing, testing, and troubleshooting complex harnesses

Experience with designing and maintaining systems from beginning to end of the product lifecycle

Knowledge of PCBA’s and working closely with electrical design engineers to define harnessing requirements and inform board level design decisions

An understanding of RF cabling, components, and testing

Excellent Organizational skills and strong documentation habits

Strong knowledge of industry harnessing standards (NASA-STD-8739.4, IPC/WHMA-A-620, etc)

Experience with SolidWorks or other CAD applications

Strong knowledge of Zuken or other harness design applications

Experience in engineering product lifecycle management tools

Strong knowledge of cable assembly design

An understanding of Electro Magnetic Effects (EME) to include Electro Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) and Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI)

Required Qualification

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Capella Employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce, as applicable. Learn more about ITAR here .

Compensation

The approximate base salary range for this position is $ 126,887 - $158,217 . The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site. Compensation will vary based on individual factors such as education, qualifications and experience of the final candidate(s), specific office location and calibration against relevant market data and internal team equity. Posted base salary figures a…