Electrical Hardware Engineer

Seeing Systems (YC W26); Greater London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Seeing Systems is building autonomous drone systems that perceive, navigate, and act intelligently in complex real-world environments. We design FPV-class drones with a modular hardware architecture, iterating weekly and testing in real environments.

You will design, build, and test the electronics inside our platforms as a core member of our growing hardware team, owning subsystems from schematic to a flying board with senior engineers beside you at the bench.

Qualifications

• 2+ years hands-on electrical/electronics engineering experience (professional or equivalent portfolio).
• PCB design experience in Altium or KiCad – took at least one board from schematic to fabricated, working hardware.
• Solid grounding in analog, digital, and power electronics fundamentals.
• Confidence at the bench: soldering (including fine-pitch), oscilloscopes, multimeters, and methodical fault-finding.
• Bias toward shipping and willingness to test in real-world environments with the team.

Responsibilities

• Design PCBs for defined subsystems under the Founding Hardware Engineer’s guidance.
• Own board bring-up and debug for subsystems: soldering, rework, test fixtures, fault-finding.
• Support schematic capture and layout across the hardware stack, including design reviews and signal/power integrity checks.
• Design and build harnessing: connector selection, wiring, and integration into airframes and ground station hardware.
• Support RF and wireless testing: telemetry, video downlink, and range testing in the field.
• Run test campaigns with the testing lead: setup aircraft, capture data, log failures, and drive iterative revisions.
• Collaborate with manufacturers on quotes, DFM feedback, and incoming inspection as production scales.
• Use AI tools to accelerate design, firmware, and debug.

Skills

Hands-on engineering

Soldering

Bench testing

Fault-finding

Field debugging

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Job description

About Us

"Seeing Systems is building autonomous drone systems that can perceive, navigate, and act intelligently in complex real‑world environments." We’re advancing autonomy through monocular vision, sensor fusion, and robust system design - drones that keep working where traditional systems fail, supported by an agentic stack that reduces operator cognitive load. Our first product is an FPV‑class drone built from the ground up with a modular hardware architecture. If we get the first platform right, we can move fast on everything else: larger airframes, longer range, new payloads, and new mission profiles without rebuilding the stack each time. We were founded by brothers Matthew and Alexander Le Maitre. Matthew is a former Jane Street engineer and Cambridge CS graduate with a background in autonomous systems research. Alexander is a self‑taught hardware engineer who has been building unmanned systems and military‑grade electronics. We’re an early‑stage, fast‑moving team working at the intersection of robotics, perception, and real‑world deployment. We iterate weekly. We test in real environments.

The Role

You will design, build, and test the electronics inside our platforms as a core member of our growing hardware team.

That means hands‑on electrical engineering work across our aircraft and ground stations: PCB design and layout, board bring‑up, power systems, harnessing, sensor integration, and test support. You’ll take ownership of defined subsystems and see them through from schematic to a working board on a flying aircraft.

You’ll report to our Founding Hardware Engineer and work closely with Alex, our co‑founder and hardware lead. This is a role for an engineer early in their career who wants to grow fast: you’ll be given real responsibility, real deadlines, and real feedback from the field, with senior engineers beside you at the bench.

Within 30 days: you’ve assembled, brought up, and debugged boards on one of our platforms and joined a field test. Within 90 days: you’ve taken a subsystem board from schematic through layout to a validated revision flying on one of our drones.

What You’ll Do

• Design PCBs for defined subsystems under the direction of the Founding Hardware Engineer: sensor boards, power distribution, BMS, payload interfaces, and supporting electronics.
• Own board bring‑up and debug for your subsystems: soldering, rework, test fixtures, and fault‑finding down to component level.
• Support schematic capture and layout across the wider hardware stack, including design reviews, signal and power integrity checks, and documentation.
• Design and build harnessing: connector selection, wiring, and integration of electronics into airframes and ground station hardware.
• Support RF and wireless testing: telemetry, video downlink, and command & control range testing in the field.
• Run test campaigns with our testing lead: prepare aircraft, capture data, log failures, and feed findings back into the next revision.
• Work with manufacturers on quotes, DFM feedback, and incoming inspection as we scale production.
• Use AI tools to accelerate design, firmware, and debug.

What We’re Looking For

• Minimum 2 years of hands‑on electrical or electronics engineering experience (professional, or a genuinely equivalent portfolio of shipped personal projects).
• PCB design experience in Altium or KiCad – you’ve taken at least one board from schematic to fabricated, working hardware.
• Solid grounding in analog, digital, and power electronics fundamentals.
• Confident at the bench: soldering (including fine‑pitch rework), oscilloscopes, multimeters, and methodical fault‑finding.
• Comfortable with the gap between “works on the bench” and “works at range in the field.”
• Bias toward shipping.
• Comfortable getting outside and testing in the real world with us.

Nice to Have

• Defence, aerospace, or UAV industry experience.
• Personal experience building and flying drones, robots, or other unmanned systems.
• Embedded work with STM32‑class MCUs and protocols such as SPI, I²C, UART, USB, CAN, and Ethernet.
• Exposure to RF/wireless design or antenna integration.
• C/C++ firmware for board bring‑up and diagnostics.
• EMI/EMC awareness and pre‑compliance testing.
• Early‑stage startup experience.

Why Join

• Real ownership of subsystems from day one, with senior engineers invested in your growth.
• Fast iteration: hardware in operators' hands in months, not years.
• Small, high‑agency team with a direct line from idea to field test.
• Real deployment pressure, real feedback, real learning.
• A clear path to grow into broader hardware ownership as the team scales.
• Snack of choice stocked in the workshop.