Sr. Electrical Harness Engineer

About the role

• Location: Onsite - Austin, TX
• Employment Type: Direct Hire, Full-Time
• Job Title: Senior Electrical Harness Engineer

Position Summary

EDDA's cables are its nerves, and we're hiring the person who owns them: every harness in the product - power, signal, data and fiber - from wire list through connector selection, routing across moving axes, bench prototyping, qualification and production sourcing. You have shipped rugged, high-flex-life harnesses and are equally at home with copper, fiber and hybrid builds.

EDDA is the low-cost counter-UAS solution, so the job is one judgment made hundreds of times: rugged where it matters, cost-efficient where it doesn't. MIL-spec circular connectors and continuous-flex cable where a harness crosses the elevation axis and takes recoil; a less-rugged sealed connector and standard jacket where it sits bolted inside the base. You defend each call with test data and a cost roll-up.

What You'll Own

• Power: battery, bus and motor-drive feeds - conductor sizing, voltage drop, thermal budgets, fusing, grounding.
• Signal and data: encoder, sensor, CAN, Ethernet, USB and camera links, with the shielding they need.
• Fiber and hybrid: EMI-immune, high-bandwidth links between sensor heads and compute, including copper/fiber hybrids through one rugged connector.
• Moving axes: continuous-flex and torsion-rated cables, service loops, cable carriers and slip-ring interfaces across EDDA's azimuth and elevation joints.
• Connectors and sealing: rugged circular MIL-spec where it earns its place, less-rugged sealed or overmolded connectors where it doesn't.
• Manufacturing and sourcing: formboard drawings, IPC/WHMA-A-620 workmanship, contract-manufacturer qualification, second sources and cost-down.

Essential Duties

• Architect the harness system: turn the electrical architecture into a harness topology - segmentation, connector locations, grounding and shield strategy, service loops and slip-ring boundaries - that is buildable, field-serviceable and cheap to make.
• Design and specify: wire lists, schematics, 3-D routings and formboard drawings; select conductors, jackets, shielding and connectors against electrical, environmental and cost requirements, with the margin shown.
• Design for flex life: specify cable construction, bend radii, twist limits, carrier geometry and strain relief for harnesses that cross moving axes and take recoil; set and prove cycle-life targets.
• Prototype at the bench: build first-article harnesses yourself - crimp, solder, terminate fiber, trial overmolds - so every drawing is proven by hand before it goes to a supplier.
• Test and qualify: flex, pull and vibration rigs; continuity, hipot and insertion-loss tests; shock, vibration, temperature, water and dust qualification; root-cause failures that come back from the range.
• Engineer the cost: hold the harness BOM to target - standardize connector families, cut unique part numbers, go rugged only where the requirement demands it.
• Source and release: qualify contract manufacturers, run RFQs, manage second sources and lead times, and release drawings and acceptance tests that production can build from without you.

Requirements

• Experience: 8+ years designing, specifying and sourcing cable harnesses for shipped hardware - robotics, aerospace, defense or industrial equipment that lives outdoors and gets abused.
• Rugged, high-flex-life harnesses: you have designed harnesses across moving joints (pan-tilt, gimbal, turret, robot arm or cable-track), specified continuous-flex constructions and bend limits, and proven cycle life on a flex rig.
• Copper, fiber and hybrid: hands-on with shielded multi-conductor copper builds, single-mode and multimode fiber termination and testing, and copper/fiber hybrids through a shared connector.
• Connectors and sealing: working command of rugged circular MIL-spec families (MIL-DTL-38999 or similar) and less-rugged sealed families - when each is right, how to terminate and seal them, and what they cost.
• Harness CAD and documentation: wire lists, 3-D routing and formboard drawings in SolidWorks Electrical/Routing, Zuken E3, Capital, Altium or similar; drawings a contract manufacturer can quote and build from.
• Workmanship: IPC/WHMA-A-620 fluent; you crimp with calibrated tooling and pull-test your terminations.
• Signal integrity basics: shielding, grounding and impedance control for Ethernet, USB, CAN and camera links.
• Test and failure analysis: continuity, hipot, insertion-loss and flex testing; you have cut open a failed harness, found the root cause and fixed the design.
• Compliance: U.S. citizenship and the ability to pass a background check.

Nice-to-Have

• MIL-STD-810 shock, vibration, temperature, sand/dust and immersion; MIL-STD-461 EMI/EMC.
• Harnesses on weapon-mounted or recoil-loaded systems.
• Slip rings and rotary joints - electrical, fiber and hybrid.
• Expanded-beam and MIL-PRF-29504 fiber termini; OTDR and fusion splicing.
• Overmolding and potting design rules and tooling.
• UAS or counter-UAS platform experience.
• Security clearance or the ability to obtain one.

Benefits

• Meaningful Early Equity: You aren't just an employee; you are a foundational owner. Your contributions directly drive the value of your stake in the company.
• Direct Roadmap Influence: Forget the bureaucracy of big defense. You will have a seat at the table, directly shaping our product and technology trajectory from day one.
• Mission-Critical Work: We don't build for "what if." We build systems the Department of War actively needs to counter immediate, real-world threats.
• The Builder's Playground: Work in a brand-new lab fully optimized for rapid prototyping, equipped with NVIDIA Jetsons, high-end scopes, and 3-D printers.
• 100% Employer-Paid Premiums: We cover 100% of your medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums and cover 50% of healthcare premiums for your dependents.
• Unlimited PTO: We value results, not clock-watching. Take the time you need to stay sharp and recharge.
• Zero Red Tape: You report to the founders. You have the autonomy to make technical decisions that would take months of committee approval at a larger firm.
• Austin-Based Culture: Join an onsite team in Austin, TX, where we prioritize high-bandwidth collaboration and rapid field-testing.
• Relocation Assistance: We want the best talent in the room. If you aren't in Austin yet, we’ll help you get here, to make your transition to the Silicon Hills seamless.