Principal Electrical Engineer

About the role

As a Principal Electrical Engineer you will join the company’s top‑level “Pirate Team”, reporting directly to the CEO and acting as part of the council CTO. You will own the electrical architecture for mobile robotics platforms—including UAVs, UGVs and USVs—from concept through production, ensuring that hardware meets performance, reliability and manufacturability goals.

Key responsibilities

• Define and own electrical architecture across data and power domains for mobile robotics platforms.
• Design complex multi‑layer PCBs (high‑speed digital, mixed‑signal, RF‑adjacent, dense power) and lead schematic capture, layout direction and design reviews.
• Develop and validate power electronics such as switching regulators, motor drives, battery‑management systems and power distribution networks, including thermal budgeting.
• Create high‑speed signal‑integrity‑critical interfaces, manage controlled impedance, EMI/EMC considerations and grounding strategies.
• Build fixtures, test benches and automated characterization rigs to bring up and stress hardware.
• Explore novel components, topologies and processes, and drive custom silicon (ASIC/SoC) or FPGA projects when off‑the‑shelf parts are insufficient.
• Debug cross‑domain electrical failures using advanced instrumentation and first‑principles analysis.
• Collaborate with embedded, mechatronics and applications teams to define hardware interfaces and constraints.
• Set and uphold the company‑wide electrical engineering standards as a member of the council CTO.

Required profile

• Extensive experience designing and bringing to production high‑performance electrical systems for mobile platforms.
• Proven ability to take a concept from schematic to manufacturable PCB and to validate it with rigorous testing.
• Comfort with low‑level hardware design, including custom silicon or programmable logic when required.
• Strong analytical mindset and ability to resolve complex power, signal‑integrity and thermal issues.

Required skills

• PCB design (multi‑layer, high‑speed, mixed‑signal, RF‑adjacent)
• Schematic capture and layout direction
• Power electronics design (switching regulators, motor drives, BMS, power distribution)
• Signal integrity, controlled impedance, EMI/EMC layout
• Thermal budgeting for battery‑powered platforms
• Test fixture and automated characterization rig development
• Custom silicon (ASIC/SoC) and FPGA development
• Debugging with oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers and other instrumentation
• First‑principles engineering analysis