Quick overview
Job description
Location: Onsite — Austin, TX
Employment Type: Direct Hire, Full‑Time
Job Title: Senior Electrical Harness Engineer
About 9 Mothers
The modern battlefield has changed. Cheap, autonomous suicide drones have turned the tactical advantage upside down, and the world is looking for a solution. At 9 Mothers, we aren’t just "innovating"—we are building the shield.
Backed by top-tier investors, we develop AI powered machines designed to intercept and neutralize Group 1/sUAS threats in real-time. Our flagship product is a low-power, counter-drone system built for the edge—on vehicles, at bases, or in a soldier's pack.
Why 9 Mothers?
While others build for "awareness" or "long-term research," we build for the immediate survival of those in harm’s way. We are a team of hackers, engineers, and mission-driven builders who value field-ready capability over polished slide decks. If you want to see your code or hardware in the field next month—not next year—this is your playground.
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.
About the Interview
Virtual interview (45 min via MS Teams)
Onsite interview in Austin (1.5 hr in-person)