Staff Electrical Hardware Design Engineer, Capella Space
$145.9-181.9k
+ Equity
Office located in Louisville, CO
Earth observation satellites & intelligence
Be an early applicant
Earth observation satellites & intelligence
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
$145.9-181.9k
+ Equity
Office located in Louisville, CO
201-500 employees
Company mission
To enable a richer understanding of our planet through the power of SAR technology.
Role
Who you are
- Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or related field
- 8+ years of experience designing and debugging PCBAs
- Proficiency in Altium Designer (or similar ECAD tools)
- Hands-on experience with lab instruments (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, etc.)
- Solid understanding of digital buses (I2C, SPI, UART, RS422, CAN, USB, PCIe, Ethernet etc.)
- Familiarity with board bring-up, test planning, and design verification workflows
- Experience interacting with contract manufacturers, supporting DFM reviews, and resolving production issues
- Strong documentation habits and organizational skills
- Master’s degree in electrical engineering or related field
- Experience designing for harsh environments (thermal, vacuum, vibration, etc.)
- Familiarity with high-speed design or impedance-controlled layouts
- Basic scripting or automation in Python or C for hardware test workflows
- Exposure to radiation effects and mitigation in electronic design
- Familiarity with EMI/EMC design practices and validation
- Familiarity with satellite electrical systems engineering (propulsion, (EPS) Electrical Power System, (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System, (ADCS) Attitude Determination and Control System, space robotics, etc)
- 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
What the job involves
- 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
- Own the full electrical design lifecycle for complex spaceflight hardware: Concept of operations, requirements engineering, schematic capture, layout, bring-up, test, and manufacturing handoff
- 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 experienced engineers
- Provide critical input to schedule planning, hardware requirements, and process improvements
- 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
- Play a key role in scaling up our manufacturing facility bringing hardware from prototype to low-volume production
- Collaborate across teams- mechanical, RF, software, FPGA/SoC, and systems to ensure seamless integration
- Mentor early-career engineers contributing to internal process improvements and elevating the overall quality of the team
- Engage with external vendors and CMs, ensuring delivery quality, resolving DFM/DFT issues, and ensuring on-time delivery
- Drive failure analysis and root-cause investigations across flight or test anomalies
- What Success Looks Like
- You consistently deliver flight-quality hardware 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 electrical engineering, using in-depth professional knowledge
- You get things done, align with stakeholders, and document concisely
Our take
Earth observation, in the form of satellite imagery, is in high demand. With climate change, supply chain, and defense operations all requiring high-quality observation data, the race is on to provide the clearest, most timely images - and Capella Space is one private company leading the charge.
Capella Space commands a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation in low-earth orbit that clients can use to access real-time visibility of facts on the ground. As the first US company to do this, it's won a leading slate of customers that include the US National Reconnaissance Office, the US Air Force, Geospatial and RSI.
As the urgency of addressing global issues increases, the demand for Capella Space’s services is almost certain to rise. This puts the company in a great position, having already established itself as a key player in the market. In 2025, Capella Space was acquired by IonQ, which will be integrating Capella’s satellite infrastructure with its quantum technology to create a space-based QKD network.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
11% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Jan 2023
$60m
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Apr 2022
$97m
SERIES C
Total funding: $234m
Company benefits
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Parental leave program
- Flexible Paid Time Off policy
- Commuter and parking benefits
- Mental health resources
- Monthly phone stipend
- 401K Plan
- Dog-friendly work environment & pet insurance options
Company HQ
Mission District, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Frank Backes
(CEO)President at IonQ as well as President, Founder and Director at Space ISAC. Formerly Senior Business Consultant at Modern Technology Solutions and SVP of Kratos Space Federal at Kratos Defense and Security Solutions.
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