Electrical Engineer I​/II

Overview

Rocket Lab is an end‑to‑end space company delivering responsive launch services, complete spacecraft design and manufacturing, payloads, satellite components, and more – all with the goal of opening access to space. Our rockets and satellites enable some of the most ambitious and vital space missions globally, supporting scientific exploration, Earth observation and missions to combat climate change, national security and exciting new technology demonstrations.

At Rocket Lab, we’re not just launching rockets — we're building the future of space. Our Space Systems team builds everything from complete spacecraft, precision payloads to the components and subsystems that allow them to thrive in space, like solar panels, flight software, star trackers, optical systems, separation systems, radios, and more. Our team has enabled more than 1,700 missions, ranging from interplanetary exploration, in‑space manufacturing to national security and defense initiatives.

The team has built spacecraft, payloads, and components for missions to the Moon and Mars, working with partners including NASA, the Space Development Agency and the U.S. Space Force.

Rocket Lab’s Optical Systems division solves mission‑critical space domain and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) challenges for Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) customers. As an Electrical Engineer I/II based at our Optical Systems site in Tucson, Arizona, you will develop and test electrical systems/subsystems hardware for our space payload programs. You will work collaboratively with engineers of various disciplines and participate in all aspects of electrical hardware development, from requirements definition through design, prototyping, fabrication, testing and production.

Join a driven team of pioneers relentlessly tackling projects, delivering on the impossible and making an impact on the future of space!

• Design electronic assemblies for our satellite and spacecraft programs
• Support electronic circuit design, PCB design and electromechanical design
• Perform design analyses and design verification and validation
• Create, maintain and manage design libraries in Altium Vault

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or other technical discipline
• Experience with electrical hardware design, including schematic capture and PCB layout
• Strong understanding of electric circuit design fundamentals and electrical engineering principles
• Familiarity with basic electronic lab equipment such as power supplies, oscilloscopes, DMMs, signal generators and soldering irons

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or other technical discipline
• 2+ years of electrical hardware design experience, including schematic capture and PCB layout
• Strong understanding of electric circuit design fundamentals and electrical engineering principles
• Proficiency with basic electronic lab equipment such as power supplies, oscilloscopes, DMMs, signal generators and soldering irons
• Experience in creation of design verification test plans and test execution

• Master’s in electrical or computer engineering or other engineering degree
• Design proficiency with processors, FPGAs, switch‑mode power supplies, communications interfaces and analog instrumentation
• Proficiency performing circuit analyses in SPICE and Excel
• Proficiency with Altium Designer for schematic capture and layout of complex PCBs
• Experience designing for space environments, including radiation SEE/TID impacts and mitigation
• Prior experience owning hardware products from conception to design release
• Understanding of design for manufacturing practices for electrical assemblies or products
• Experience in designing high‑reliability aerospace applications
• Experience designing rigid‑flex PCBs and electromechanical design familiarity in general
• Experience with FPGA design and embedded software development for ARM core processors
• Experience using Atlassian…