Venturi Astrolab, Inc. (Astrolab) is pioneering new ways to explore and operate on distant planetary bodies. We are singularly focused on designing, building, and operating a fleet of multi-purpose commercial planetary rovers to extend and enhance humanity’s presence in the solar system. We are seeking motivated, creative, and exceptional people to join our world-class team.
As a Harness Design Engineer, you'll own the design and execution of flight, GSE, and test harnesses that connect avionics, sensors, power systems, and vehicle subsystems - ensuring reliability in extreme environments.
This is an end-to-end role spanning requirements definition, architecture, detailed design, first-article builds, qualification testing, and production support. You will work closely with mechanical, thermal, electrical, integration, and manufacturing teams to deliver harness systems that are safe, lightweight, manufacturable, and flight-ready.
We are looking for a hands-on, highly collaborative engineer who thrives in fast-paced environments and is excited to build real flight hardware. You’ll be a key technical owner on the vehicle program with high visibility and the ability to shape best practices as the organization scales.
What you'll do:
- Coordinate with Avionics Engineers to define and manage system level harness schematics for flight hardware, test, and GSE assets.
- Identify and maintain a library aerospace-grade materials, including connectors, backshells, shielding, wires, and cables for signal, power, data, and RF.
- Use 3D CAD tools to design routed harness models, ensuring proper physical architecture based on aerospace standards for bend radii, strain relief, retention, isolation, and separation, within complex vehicle assemblies.
- Create 2D flat harness drawings and formboards for production. Support first-article builds and resolve manufacturing non-conformances.
- Perform essential analyses such as voltage drop, current derating, and EMI/EMC shielding effectiveness and resolve designs to defined standards. Coordinate qualification tests like continuity, isolation, and vibration/thermal cycling.
What you'll bring:
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related technical field
- 3+ years of professional experience in wire harness design, including experience creating and interpreting wiring diagrams, schematics, and interface documentation
- Experience using CAD and PLM systems to develop and release production drawings, with an understanding of harness design and manufacturing considerations
- Experience troubleshooting wire harness issues and supporting design solutions through root cause analysis and corrective action
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting aerospace, launch vehicle, defense, robotics, automotive, or other complex technical applications
- Experience with aerospace-grade materials and components, including considerations for weight, cost, manufacturability, inspection, testability, and rework
- Experience with relevant industry standards, such as IPC/WHMA-A-620, NASA-STD-8739.4, NASA-STD-8739.6, NASA-STD-6016, SAE AS22759, or J-STD-001
- Experience designing for high vibration, vacuum, thermal cycling, or electromagnetic interference (EMI) environments
- Experience with harness-level or system-level signal integrity analysis for high-speed data interfaces, such as Ethernet, SpaceWire, or LVDS
- Experience with Siemens NX and Teamcenter
- Experience with harness-specific design tools such as E3 Zuken
Benefits and Perks
- Join a team of best-in-class engineers building the foundation of planetary surface exploration
- Equity ownership in the company
- Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and mental health support
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Flexible PTO and parental leave
- Home office set up reimbursement
- Weekly lunch stipend, plus complimentary snacks and beverages on-site
- Once a month social hour on-site with food and drinks