Harness Manufacturing Team Lead

HARNESS MANUFACTURING TEAM LEAD Role highlights - Title: Harness Manufacturing Team Lead - Department: Global Manufacturing Organisation - Location: Espoo, Finland - Reports to: Head of Subassemblies - Employment type: Permanent - Workplace model: On-site - Employment is subject to applicable security screening (including SUPO, where required) BUILD THE HARNESS MANUFACTURING OPERATION TO SCALE ICEYE'S SATELLITE PRODUCTION Every ICEYE satellite is powered, connected, and controlled through its harness system, which comprises around 270 cable assemblies across more than 90 cable types per spacecraft. Each assembly features thousands of handcrafted, space-grade crimps. While handcrafting supported batch manufacturing, scaling production requires transforming harness manufacturing—a critical path item. To achieve our target cadence, we must drastically reduce build hours per spacecraft while scaling volume, without compromising flight-hardware reliability. We are transitioning from an operation reliant on individual technician expertise to a scalable, data-driven system built on repeatable processes, purpose-built tooling, and multi-site capability. This is an operational leadership role, not a supervisory position. You will have end-to-end ownership of harness manufacturing, including process design, tooling, team management, capacity planning, and the automation roadmap. Inheriting an active operation and capable team, your objective is to build Europe's fastest, most reliable space-grade harness manufacturing operation and continually push operational benchmarks.   WHAT YOU WILL OWN - End-to-End Operational Ownership: Manage safety, quality, cost, delivery, and throughput on a daily basis, and develop capacity models to stay ahead of satellite build schedules. - Strategic Roadmap Execution: Define, justify, and execute a 3-to-5-year harness manufacturing strategy encompassing in-house production, outsourcing, and automation priorities. - Process Optimization & Tooling: Standardize work, takt times, and flow for every harness family. Implement practical manufacturing technologies such as digital formboards, crimp-force monitoring, automated electrical testing, laser marking, automated wire processing, and digital work instructions. - Design for Manufacturability (DFM): Participate in design reviews to ensure connector selection, routing, lengths, and labeling optimize production flow, and integrate build data into future satellite designs. - Team Development & Leadership: Hire, train, certify, and mentor technicians and process engineers, embedding daily visual management and kaizen continuous improvement practices. - Quality Assurance: Maintain zero harness-related defects in satellite integration, ensuring strict compliance with IPC/WHMA-A-620 Class 3 (Space Addendum) and ECSS-Q-ST-70 standards while embedding ESD, FOD, and traceability protocols into daily operations. WHAT YOU BRING - 5+ years of experience in wire harness or cable assembly manufacturing within space, aerospace, defense, or high-volume automotive sectors. - Proven track record of managing and developing teams of 10–15 technical professionals, including hiring, performance management, and retention. - Strong practical technical expertise in crimping, soldering, shield termination, overbraiding, backshells, potting, marking, and electrical testing, alongside fluency in reading wire lists, harness drawings, and schematics. - Deep practical knowledge of IPC/WHMA-A-620 standards; experience with Class 3 (Space Addendum), ECSS-Q-ST-70, or NASA-STD-8739.4 is strongly preferred. - Demonstrated ability to drive measurable improvements in cycle times, product yields, manufacturing costs, or production capacity. - Applied experience with Lean manufacturing methodologies (standard work, takt, value-stream mapping, structured problem solving) and integrating automated tooling or test equipment into production lines. - Strong analytical skills with clear written and verbal communication in English. Preferred qualifications include background in high-rate manufacturing environments (e.g., automotive EV harness or aerospace electronics), familiarity with DFM tools (Capital, E3.series, CATIA Electrical), experience introducing automated wire processing or RF cable assemblies, IPC/WHMA-A-620 CIT certification, or supplier qualification experience. Candidates with automotive harness experience who bring strong automation, line design, and takt-time discipline are encouraged to apply; space-grade workmanship standards will be taught in-house.   THE BAR We are seeking an operational leader rather than a traditional administrator. The ideal candidate actively optimizes build times, iteratively improves existing processes, builds data-backed business cases to resolve constraints, and balances immediate delivery goals with long-term technological and strategic scaling.   WHO THIS IS NOT FOR - Individuals seeking static, pre-defined operational processes rather than building and defining them. - Anyone willing to compromise quality standards to achieve speed. - Managers who prefer desk-based oversight over active shop-floor presence. WHY ICEYE ICEYE designs, builds, and operates the world's largest constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, delivering earth observation data in any weather condition, day or night. All spacecraft are manufactured in-house as we scale our manufacturing footprint. - Direct ownership of a critical production capability that directly impacts constellation expansion speed. - Streamlined cross-functional collaboration with harness design and integration teams located on-site. - Capital backing and equipment investment for well-supported, high-return business proposals. PRACTICALITIES AND HOW TO APPLY - Location: Espoo, Finland (On-site floor role, with occasional travel to other ICEYE manufacturing facilities). - Working Language: English (Finnish language skills are not required). Relocation support is available. Application Process: Please submit your CV along with a one-page summary describing a significant harness manufacturing challenge you solved, including the operational baseline, actions taken, and quantified results achieved.