Senior Electrical Engineer

Senior Electrical Engineer

Overview

HighQ is proving that cutting-edge avionics designs don't require multi-year timelines or legacy aerospace bureaucracy. We bring bespoke avionics designs to one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft and spacecraft. We deliver the system architecture, custom electronics, and embedded software that mission-critical programs demand, all from a single integrated team.

If you're an engineer who wants to do full-stack work—not just a piece of it—this is the place. You'll design end-to-end digital flight systems that combine high reliability with rapid iteration. You'll own problems from architecture through deployment. You'll work directly with customers and see your designs fly. And you'll do it alongside people who've already proven themselves on hard problems in aerospace, and are building the next generation of solutions.

For engineers who refuse to be siloed, or those that can't accept the traditional aerospace timeline, HighQ is what you've been looking for.

Roles & Responsibilities

We are seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer to work in a collaborative team environment to create innovative aerospace and industrial systems. The ideal candidate is an engineer who has demonstrated success in solving complex electrical design challenges, can work effectively across project disciplines, and has the capability to take ownership of electrical design projects. 

This is a professional position in which the person is expected to exercise independent judgment, work with minimal supervision on assigned tasks, and mentor less experienced team members. The person in this position will be expected to lead specific electrical design activities, contribute to project planning, and support the development of a healthy and effective team environment.

Additional desired qualities include:

• Proven experience with electrical engineering design projects, including modeling, building, testing, analysis, documentation, and delivery
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of technical deliverables
• Strong communication skills to convey complex technical concepts to team members, customers, and stakeholders
• Solid background in electrical engineering with hands-on hardware experience
• Capability to develop electrical solutions from defined requirements
• Willingness to mentor junior engineers and contribute to team knowledge

Specific project assignments will be tailored to both your background and our current client needs. The following are examples of common responsibilities at HighQ, although experience is not necessarily required in all of the following:

PCB Design & Layout

Take boards from schematic through bring-up. Capture schematics, select components, and lay out multilayer PCBs for avionics, power distribution, sensor interfaces, and motor drives. Address signal integrity, power integrity, grounding, and EMI on mixed-signal and high-current designs, and design for the vibration and thermal conditions of flight vehicles. Work with fab and assembly vendors through DFM review, bring up first articles on the bench with firmware engineers, and carry fixes into the next revision.

Electrical Design

Design aircraft control panels and relay logic systems, perform electrical load analysis and power distribution design, develop electrical systems from project requirements, conduct component selection and circuit design, and create electrical schematics and detailed wiring diagrams.

Electrical Integration & Testing

Lead electrical system integration and troubleshooting, develop and execute electrical test procedures, support vehicle integration and bring-up activities in field environments, debug and resolve electrical issues, and validate electrical system performance against requirements.

Project Contribution

Take ownership of electrical subsystems and deliverables, contribute to project planning and timeline development, participate in customer technical discussions and design reviews, support development of electrical engineering standards and best practices, mentor junior team members on electrical design challenges, and ensure successful delivery of electrical systems.

Required Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent, along with 5+ years of professional experience in electrical component design and development.
• Expert-level proficiency in electrical circuit design, power distribution, and PCB design.
• Experience with electrical testing equipment, troubleshooting, and system integration.
• Demonstrated ability to independently execute electrical design projects from requirements through delivery.
• Experience with electrical CAD tools and schematic capture software.
• Experience developing electrical engineering documentation, drawings, and technical specifications.
• Effective communication and collaboration skills for customer interaction and team coordination.

Bonus Points

• Experience designing PCBs for flight or other harsh environments, where vibration, thermal, and EMI drove the design.
• Hands-on experience with power electronics hardware, such as DC-DC converters, gate drivers, inverters, or motor drives.
• Experience with electric aircraft propulsion, electromechanical actuators, or high-voltage battery systems and battery management systems (BMS).
• Experience designing hardware for DO-160 environmental qualification or other high-reliability applications.
• Familiarity with aircraft electrical systems, avionics, or aerospace standards such as DO-160, DO-254, or AS50881.
• Experience with RF hardware design or integration.
• Experience designing microcontroller-based hardware and writing or supporting the firmware that runs on it.
• Aviation experience, such as a pilot certificate, building or flying RC aircraft, or a Part 107 license.

Compensation

The base salary for this position is $120,000–$165,000 per year. Where you start in that range depends on your experience and on how much of the electrical design scope you can own from day one.

Culture & Benefits

HighQ offers competitive compensation, holidays and paid time off, a flight training bonus program, and a flexible work environment that truly supports work-life balance. We believe in providing opportunities for professional growth through challenging projects, mentorship from experienced engineers, and exposure to cutting-edge aerospace technologies. Our collaborative culture values innovation, continuous learning, and the pursuit of excellence both inside and outside of work.

Get in Touch

If the above sounds good to you, reach out to us with a resume or any documentation that shows you've built cool things and solved interesting problems. Our work is too varied, and, we think, too interesting to fit into standard job descriptions – if you get excited by the prospect of tackling diverse engineering challenges while maintaining time for your other passions, we'd love to connect.