Electrical Engineer

These Electrical Engineer and Senior Electrical Engineer roles cover hands-on electrical design for ultra long range unmanned aerial systems built for the U.S. government and allied partners, including power distribution, sensor integration, wiring harnesses, RF links and test.

Both levels take designs from requirements through PCB build, integration and flight test, with scope and leadership set by experience: Electrical Engineers work alongside senior engineers on day-to-day design, build and test, while Senior Electrical Engineers own subsystems, lead design reviews and mentor the wider team. The team works closely with mechanical and software engineers in a fast-moving, venture-backed environment where designs go from fab house to flight in weeks.

The roles are based in Herndon, VA (preferred), with the option to be based in Denver, CO with regular travel to Herndon. Additional travel of up to 25% to customer sites and field test locations is required, including austere field and military operational environments.

Job Responsibilities:

• Design electrical subsystems from product requirements through schematic, PCB layout, build and test
• Develop power distribution, sensor integration and RF hardware for ultra long range airborne platforms, optimizing for weight, power efficiency and endurance
• Design wiring harnesses, select connectors and route cables within complex aircraft
• Build and test prototype circuits, including soldering and use of pick-and-place equipment
• Plan and run bench, environmental and field tests using oscilloscopes, VNAs, spectrum analyzers, thermal imaging and environmental chambers
• Analyze and test long-range RF link performance and throughput
• Support integration of electrical subsystems with mechanical and software teams
• Set up flight test instrumentation and analyze post-test data
• Carry out failure analysis on field returns
• Conduct trade studies and support component selection and sourcing
• Maintain accurate schematics, BOMs and design documentation
• Senior level: own electrical subsystems end to end and set design and test standards
• Senior level: lead design reviews, root cause investigations and test strategy
• Senior level: mentor and guide Electrical Engineers on design, build and test tasks

Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering or a related field
• Electrical Engineer: 2+ years of hands-on electrical hardware design, test or integration experience
• Senior Electrical Engineer: 6+ years of hands-on electrical hardware design, test and integration experience, including ownership of designs through to production
• Experience taking PCBs from schematic through layout, bring-up and test using Altium, KiCad or similar
• Solid analog and digital circuit design skills
• Hands-on lab and debug experience with oscilloscopes and other bench test equipment
• Senior level: experience leading design reviews or mentoring engineers
• Aerospace, defense or other high-reliability industry experience preferred
• Experience with long-range or long-endurance UAS, high-altitude electronics or beyond-line-of-sight communications desirable
• Wiring harness design, RF testing, embedded systems or sensor integration experience desirable
• Familiarity with relevant military standards (e.g. MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461) desirable
• Startup or small-company experience desirable
• US citizen with the ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance