The Role
Design and own electrical interconnect systems and harness architectures for space vehicles from concept through production. Specify components, create schematics and production drawings, lead design reviews, develop assembly/verification procedures, and collaborate cross-functionally to meet environmental, reliability, and EMI/EMC constraints while supporting prototyping and multiple programs.
Summary Generated by Built In
In this role, you will design and own electrical interconnect systems for high-performance space vehicles, leading development from early concept through production and integration. You’ll serve as the primary point of contact for harness-related design decisions while collaborating across multiple engineering disciplines to deliver reliable solutions for demanding mission environments.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design, development, and implementation of electrical harness architectures, acting as the subject matter expert for interconnect systems on assigned programs
- Translate system-level requirements into detailed harness designs that meet functional, environmental, and reliability constraints
- Evaluate and specify components such as wiring, connectors, shielding approaches, cable constructions, and associated hardware suited for demanding environments
- Create and release documentation packages including interconnect schematics, system block diagrams, and production drawings
- Lead and contribute to design reviews, proactively identifying risks, gaps, and opportunities to improve overall system performance
- Develop clear assembly instructions and verification procedures aligned with industry standards and proven engineering practices
- Partner with cross-functional teams to define electrical requirements, ensuring alignment between mechanical, software, electrical, product, and compliance stakeholders
- Support rapid development cycles, including prototyping, deployment, and continuous improvement
- Manage contributions across multiple programs simultaneously, balancing priorities across different phases of development
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent experience)
- Minimum of 3 years designing wiring and interconnect systems for harsh-environment applications such as aerospace, defense, or industrial platforms
- Demonstrated ownership of full interconnect system design, including grounding approaches, signal performance, power distribution, and shielding strategies
- Proficiency in interpreting and working from wiring diagrams and interconnect documentation
- Experience optimizing designs to meet mission requirements, including manufacturability, mass efficiency, and overall system performance
- Experience conducting trade studies to optimize connector selection, conductor sizing, wiring topology, and shielding methods
- Ability to ensure compliance with system-level electrical constraints such as current capacity, voltage limits, redundancy requirements, bandwidth, and EMI/EMC considerations
- Strong understanding of electrical failure modes and mitigation techniques, including interference, voltage drop, thermal effects, and crosstalk
- Working knowledge of GD&T and common engineering drawing standards as applied to formboards, manufacturing drawings, and production documentation
Preferred Skills and Experience
- Familiarity with requirements for cable and harness design, fabrication, inspection, and acceptance in accordance with NASA-STD-8739.4 and IPC/WHMA-A-620
- Experience qualifying hardware for flight, including defining test and analysis approaches for environmental and mechanical conditions, wear, and service-life requirements
- Experience developing 3D harness routing models within PLM-managed CAD environments, preferably NX and Teamcenter
- Ability to optimize electrical and communication system designs for power distribution, conductor sizing, voltage drop, thermal performance, and component derating
- Familiarity with radiation effects on avionics systems and materials in high-radiation space environments, including hardware design, analysis, and qualification for mission exposure conditions
- Working familiarity with communication standards and data buses (e.g., Ethernet, CAN, RS-422)
- Software and programming experience with emphasis on electrical interconnect systems and database integration, including working knowledge of SQL, YAML, and JSON
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.
Impulse Space’s spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder), an individual granted asylum in the U.S., or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space 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, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
About
Impulse Space, the in-space transportation company founded by Tom Mueller, is opening access beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its fleet of in-space transportation vehicles. The high-energy Helios vehicle unlocks orbits beyond LEO with its powerful Deneb engine, dropping off payloads in MEO, GEO, heliocentric, lunar, and other planetary orbits. The flight-proven Mira vehicle uses a nontoxic, high-impulse chemical propulsion system to offer orbital transport, constellation deployment, and precision reentry services to customers throughout LEO. Led by a team that delivered the most reliable rockets in history, Impulse provides economical and efficient in-space transportation by reliably and rapidly getting customers where they want to go.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent experience)
- Minimum of 3 years designing wiring and interconnect systems for harsh-environment applications such as aerospace, defense, or industrial platforms
- Demonstrated ownership of full interconnect system design, including grounding approaches, signal performance, power distribution, and shielding strategies
- Proficiency in interpreting and working from wiring diagrams and interconnect documentation
- Experience optimizing designs to meet mission requirements, including manufacturability, mass efficiency, and overall system performance
- Experience conducting trade studies to optimize connector selection, conductor sizing, wiring topology, and shielding methods
- Ability to ensure compliance with system-level electrical constraints such as current capacity, voltage limits, redundancy requirements, bandwidth, and EMI/EMC considerations
- Strong understanding of electrical failure modes and mitigation techniques, including interference, voltage drop, thermal effects, and crosstalk
- Working knowledge of GD&T and common engineering drawing standards as applied to formboards, manufacturing drawings, and production documentation
- Familiarity with requirements for cable and harness design, fabrication, inspection, and acceptance in accordance with NASA-STD-8739.4 and IPC/WHMA-A-620
- Experience qualifying hardware for flight, including defining test and analysis approaches for environmental and mechanical conditions, wear, and service-life requirements
- Experience developing 3D harness routing models within PLM-managed CAD environments, preferably NX and Teamcenter
- Ability to optimize electrical and communication system designs for power distribution, conductor sizing, voltage drop, thermal performance, and component derating
- Familiarity with radiation effects on avionics systems and materials in high-radiation space environments, including hardware design, analysis, and qualification
- Working familiarity with communication standards and data buses (e.g., Ethernet, CAN, RS-422)
- Software and programming experience with emphasis on electrical interconnect systems and database integration, including working knowledge of SQL, YAML, and JSON
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The Company
What We Do
Impulse enables low-cost and nimble last-mile space payload delivery - access any orbit, reach other worlds.
