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Salary: USD 114,200 - 142,700 / annual
Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest constellation of imaging satellites in history. We are seeking a Harness Manufacturing Engineer to own the manufacturing side of our newly established in-house harness production line.
You will own wire harnesses across every satellite Planet builds, working within the New Product Introduction (NPI) team that develops and scales assembly, integration, and test operations for next-generation satellites. You will partner closely with Electrical Engineering harness design teams, production technicians, quality, and supply chain to take harnesses from first article through qualified, repeatable flight production.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own manufacturing engineering and production operations for Planet's in-house wire harness cell across all satellite programs
- Develop and document harness assembly procedures, process flows, work instructions, and cleanroom/ESD protocols
- Scope, design, and deploy tooling, fixtures, workstations, and verification programs (continuity, HiPot, pull-tests) for the harness cell
- Partner with Electrical Engineering to provide DFM/DFA feedback on new harness designs prior to release
- Support vehicle subsystem integration, troubleshoot build issues, and drive nonconformances to resolution
- Manage the make versus buy transition, including qualifying external vendors and phasing production in-house
- Participate in hiring and training production technicians to transition builds from prototype to flight production
- Monitor production metrics and recommend facility or capital equipment improvements to scale capacity
This is a full-time, in-office position based in San Francisco HQ, 5 days per week. This role is ideal for someone who wants to build a manufacturing capability from the ground up and enjoys hands-on work with hardware.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 4+ years of manufacturing development experience, including direct experience with wire harness or cable assembly manufacturing
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field
- Hands-on knowledge of harness fabrication, including wire preparation, crimping, solder cup termination, shield termination, backshell installation, and potting
- Working knowledge of IPC/WHMA-A-620 Class 3 workmanship requirements
- Experience reading and creating harness drawings, wiring diagrams, and pinout tables
- Experience with harness design and routing CAD such as RapidHarness or SolidWorks Electrical
- SolidWorks skills sufficient to develop tooling and fixturing, verify routing and bend radius clearance in vehicle assemblies, and extract useful views for work instructions
- Hands-on experience with hardware assembly, integration, and test
- Excellent attention to detail and technical writing skills for documenting assembly and test processes
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience standing up a new manufacturing cell or bringing outsourced assembly processes in-house
- Familiarity with space flight interconnect standards (e.g., MIL-DTL-83513, MIL-DTL-22520, NASA workmanship standards, NASA Level 2 screening)
- Experience programming and operating automated test systems (CAMI, Cirris) and specialized processing/crimp tooling (DMC, Schleuniger)
- Active IPC/WHMA-A-620 certification or Certified IPC Trainer (CIT)
- Experience with MES/PLM software and executing continuous improvement initiatives in cleanroom environments
