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Role description

Lead Harness Technician

Starcloud logoStarcloudYC S24
Zero to one
WorkplaceOn-site
SenioritySenior
LocationRedmond, WA
Other

About This Role

Help build the electrical backbone of orbital data centers. As Lead Harness Technician at Starcloud, you will play a hands-on leadership role in designing, fabricating, integrating, and testing the cable harnessing that connects critical spacecraft subsystems across power, avionics, compute, thermal, and communications. This is a chance to work on first-of-a-kind space hardware at the intersection of aerospace and AI infrastructure, where the quality of every connector, routing decision, and test result directly affects mission success.

You will join a small, highly technical engineering team building a new category of space systems: data centers in orbit. In this role, you will own harness build execution from prototype through flight hardware, help establish scalable workmanship standards, and partner closely with electrical, avionics, mechanical, and integration engineers. For someone who enjoys combining precision craftsmanship with process rigor and wants visible impact in a fast-moving deep-tech environment, this is an opportunity to help define how Starcloud builds reliable space-grade hardware as the company scales.

Responsibilities

  • Lead day-to-day fabrication, inspection, and integration of spacecraft harness assemblies for prototype, qualification, and flight builds
  • Interpret engineering drawings and electrical documentation to build complex harnesses, then identify and resolve manufacturability or integration issues early
  • Establish and maintain high workmanship standards, build processes, tool control, and inspection checklists for reliable and repeatable harness production
  • Partner with electrical, mechanical, avionics, and integration engineers to plan routing, connector access, strain relief, shielding, and serviceability across spacecraft subsystems
  • Perform continuity, isolation, and fault-finding activities on harnesses and integrated hardware, documenting issues clearly and driving timely rework or corrective action
  • Support vehicle integration, test, and reconfiguration activities on the production floor, including rapid response to hardware issues during critical milestones
  • Help develop scalable harness lab practices including inventory management, consumables planning, workstation organization, and training or mentoring of additional technicians as the team grows

Requirements

Must-haves

  • 5+ years of hands-on experience building, routing, terminating, and testing electrical harnesses for aerospace, spacecraft, avionics, defense, or other high-reliability hardware systems
  • Demonstrated experience leading harness fabrication or integration work, including prioritizing builds, reviewing workmanship, and supporting cross-functional teams through integration and test
  • Strong proficiency with crimping, soldering, wire stripping, connector assembly, shielding, lacing, heat shrink application, and cable identification to high-reliability workmanship standards
  • Ability to read and work from wiring diagrams, harness drawings, pinouts, schematics, bills of materials, and engineering change documentation with a high level of accuracy
  • Experience performing continuity, isolation, and troubleshooting of harness assemblies using standard electrical test equipment such as multimeters, hipot testers, and cable testers
  • Strong attention to detail, configuration control discipline, and documentation habits in environments where traceability and quality matter

Nice-to-haves

  • Experience with spacecraft, satellite bus, launch vehicle, or other flight hardware integration and environmental test campaigns
  • Familiarity with IPC/WHMA-A-620, NASA-STD workmanship practices, or equivalent aerospace harnessing standards and certification environments

Benefits

  • Competitive salary and meaningful equity in an early-stage company building category-defining space and compute infrastructure
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage to support you and your dependents
  • Paid time off and company holidays, with a culture that values sustained performance over unnecessary burnout
  • Opportunity to work side by side with experienced engineers from leading aerospace and technology organizations on hardware that will fly
  • High ownership and career growth in a small team, with the chance to help shape production standards, tooling, and technician practices from the ground up
  • Mission-driven, on-site environment where your craftsmanship and technical judgment have direct, visible impact on flight readiness and company progress

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Company info

Starcloud logo

Starcloud

Data Centers in Space

Starcloud is building data centers in space to address the AI energy challenge. Starcloud recently launched the first Nvidia H100 chip to space. Falling launch costs enable Starcloud to capitalize on the abundant energy and ability to rapidly scale in space. Starcloud was founded in January 2024 and raised a $170M Series A in early 2026, becoming the fastest unicorn in YC history. In August 2026, they announced a $250M raise at a $2.3bn valuation with investment from Benchmark, NVIDIA, and Cisco. Their backers include Y Combinator (S24), Benchmark, EQT, NFX, In-Q-Tel, NVIDIA, and the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers. Starcloud Concept Video: Starcloud.com

Private companySeries ARecently raisedYC S24In the newsAI-product
Founded
2024
HQRedmond, United States
Size11–50 employees
IndustryDefense and Space Manufacturing
Latest fundingSeries A · Aug 21, 2026
Investors
Manhattan West
News
  • StarCloud's Philip Johnston: A $2.5M Satellite and a $500-a-Kilo Bet on Orbital Data Centers

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