Hardware Systems Lead, Drone

The role

You will be the hands-on chief engineer for drone hardware. You will architect, build, test, and break mechanical and electrical hardware to ensure aircraft survivability and performance.

What you will do

• Own end-to-end mechanical and electrical hardware architecture for drone platforms
• Prototype, build, integrate, debug, and test hardware on real aircraft
• Define and drive hardware survivability against environmental factors
• Lead integration of sensors, compute, power systems, and flight controllers
• Manage size, weight, and power (SWaP) tradeoffs
• Define hardware requirements and reference architectures
• Plan and run environmental, durability, and flight testing
• Analyze failures and crashes to drive design fixes
• Act as technical authority for hardware tradeoffs
• Lead hardware design reviews and mentor engineers

Required qualifications

• BS/MS in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or a related field
• 10+ years of hands-on hardware engineering experience on drones, UAS, or other aircraft
• Strong command of airframe, structures, electrical architecture, power distribution, harness design, and avionics
• Experience designing hardware for vibration, shock, ingress protection, thermal management, and EMI/EMC
• Hands-on experience building prototypes, wiring, debugging, and running flight tests
• Experience integrating sensors, compute, and flight control hardware onto airborne platforms
• Experience with SWaP optimization and lightweight design including composites and carbon fiber
• Experience with reliability and qualification testing
• Systems-level thinking and ability to make architecture decisions
• Experience designing for manufacturability and field serviceability

Nice to have

• Experience with fixed-wing, multirotor, or VTOL platforms
• Familiarity with aerospace standards such as DO-160 or MIL-STD-810 and MIL-STD-461
• Experience with propulsion, battery, or power system integration

Before you apply

• US Citizen or US Green Card holder

About the company

Applied Intuition, Inc. is a Silicon Valley company creating digital infrastructure for physical AI. It services automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries.