Lead Electrical Engineer

Job Title: Lead Electrical Engineer
Job Description
The Lead Electrical Engineer provides hands-on technical leadership for the design, integration, and performance of complex electrical systems supporting advanced unmanned and autonomous platforms. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who enjoys solving challenging technical problems, working directly with hardware, and contributing throughout the full product development lifecycle. You will guide electrical engineering efforts, make system-level technical decisions, and remain actively involved in design, integration, testing, and troubleshooting. You will collaborate closely with multidisciplinary teams and have significant technical ownership, with the opportunity to see your designs progress from concept through deployment in a fast-moving, well-funded environment that values engineering judgment over bureaucracy.
Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of electrical architectures for unmanned, autonomous, aerospace, robotic, and other complex electromechanical systems.
• Own and guide end-to-end electrical system architecture, including power, data, RF, communications, and control interfaces.
• Serve as the lead electrical integrator across internal subsystems, external suppliers, and development partners to ensure cohesive system performance.
• Define and maintain electrical documentation, including schematics, wiring diagrams, interface control documents (ICDs), pinouts, bills of materials (BOMs), test plans, and design specifications.
• Conduct system-level trade studies involving power consumption, bandwidth, thermal impacts, reliability, EMI/EMC performance, scalability, and cost.
• Design, review, debug, and improve electrical circuits and printed circuit boards (PCBs).
• Take clean-sheet requirements and design PCBs and wiring harnesses, performing total loading analysis that considers battery and generator capacity.
• Design circuits for phasing and determine component specifications, including resistors, transistors, wire types, and related elements.
• Design starter generators and alternators, including magnet count, wattage, current levels, and other key performance parameters.
• Manage sensor power consumption and perform thermal loading analysis to determine the need for heat sinks, fans, and other thermal management solutions.
• Support electrical systems involving motors and motor controllers, battery systems, battery management systems (BMS), chargers, power conversion, distribution, and protection circuitry.
• Integrate and troubleshoot embedded systems and communications interfaces, including CAN, UART, SPI, Ethernet, microcontrollers, sensors, radios, and payload systems.
• Lead grounding, shielding, EMI/EMC, and transient protection activities throughout development, integration, and test phases.
• Perform hands-on system bring-up, integration, checkout, and troubleshooting using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, current probes, and related test equipment.
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and design guidance to engineering team members.
• Drive component selection decisions that balance performance, reliability, manufacturability, supply chain availability, and cost.
• Partner with cross-functional teams in mechanical, software, manufacturing, supply chain, systems, and test engineering to resolve technical challenges and support program execution.
• Support verification and validation efforts, including environmental and performance testing of electrical and electromechanical systems.
• Assist with transitioning products from prototype to production, including design-for-manufacturing improvements and maturation of documentation.
• Contribute to technical reviews, risk assessments, engineering standards, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Collaborate effectively in R&D, prototyping, advanced development, and new product introduction environments to deliver robust solutions.

Essential Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related field; a Master's degree is preferred.
• 10+ years of experience developing and integrating complex electrical or electromechanical systems.
• Proven experience serving as a technical lead or sr contributor on complex engineering programs.
• Experience in power systems, embedded systems, controls, communications, sensor integration, or related disciplines.
• Experience working in R&D, prototyping, advanced development, or new product introduction environments.
• Ability to travel as needed, including occasional domestic and international travel.
• Valid driver's license and ability to obtain a passport.
• U.S. citizenship required due to program and regulatory requirements.
• Strong proficiency in electrical engineering, system design, debugging, and embedded systems.
• Hands-on experience with PCB design, wiring, and harness development.
• Ability to perform total loading analysis considering battery and generator capacity, and to design circuits for phasing and component specification.
• Capability to conduct thermal loading analysis and define appropriate thermal management solutions.
• Experience using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, current probes, and related electrical test equipment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead system integration, testing, and troubleshooting activities.
• Strong technical leadership, mentoring, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Hands-on approach with experience building, modifying, maintaining, and troubleshooting complex hardware systems.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Advanced understanding of electrical system architecture, power distribution, grounding, shielding, EMI/EMC, and transient protection.
• Extensive experience designing, reviewing, debugging, and troubleshooting circuits, PCBs, wiring harnesses, and integrated electrical systems.
• Experience with motor control systems, energy storage solutions, battery management systems, DC/DC conversion, and power electronics.
• Familiarity with avionics, communications equipment, sensors, embedded electronics, and system integration.
• Strong understanding of communication protocols including UART, CAN, and SPI.
• Experience with electrical CAD tools, schematic capture, and design documentation tools, including platforms such as Solid Edge.
• Experience with aerospace systems, robotics, autonomous platforms, flight testing, vehicle electrical systems, and battery systems.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across electrical, mechanical, software, manufacturing, and test disciplines.
• Comfort operating in agile, advanced development environments that emphasize engineering judgment and rapid iteration.
• Interest in mission-critical, nationally significant programs and the opportunity to own and drive innovative solutions.

Work Environment
The role operates in a well-funded, agile engineering environment where technical judgment is valued over bureaucracy and engineers are trusted with real ownership and creative freedom. Teams work on mission-critical, nationally significant programs and have direct access to advanced tools and technology, including in-house 3D printing and rapid access to needed resources without typical supply-chain delays. Work is highly collaborative across electrical, mechanical, software, manufacturing, supply chain, systems, and test engineering disciplines, with a strong emphasis on hands-on hardware development, integration, and testing. The position follows a 9/80 work week schedule, supporting a balanced approach to project demands and personal time while enabling fast-paced innovation and visible impact on deployed systems.
Job Type & Location
This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Rockville, MD.
Pay and Benefits
The pay range for this position is $67.31 - $88.94/hr.
Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.
Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: • Medical, dental & vision • Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital • 401(k) Retirement Plan - Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available • Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) • Short and long-term disability • Health Spending Account (HSA) • Transportation benefits • Employee Assistance Program • Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)
Workplace Type
This is a fully onsite position in Rockville,MD.
Application Deadline
This position is anticipated to close on Oct 6, 2026.
About Actalent


Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.


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