Hardware Engineer

Oakmont Consulting; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Oakmont Consulting, a YC-backed defence startup, is hiring a Founding Hardware Engineer to own the entire hardware stack, from prototyping to flight testing. You’ll start hands-on with PCB design, bring-up and testing, then help scale the hardware team as the company grows.

You’ll contribute to standing up a UK manufacturing facility and shaping the engineering culture, recruiting and mentoring junior hardware engineers along the way.

Qualifications

• End-to-end PCB experience from schematics to manufactured boards.
• Experience with flight controller hardware and UAV components.
• Ability to stand up UK manufacturing facility.
• Ability to hire and mentor junior hardware engineers.

Responsibilities

• Prototype, board bring-up and flight testing.
• Lead hardware team as the org scales.
• Collaborate with manufacturing partners in the UK.
• Hire and mentor junior engineers.

Skills

PCB design

Schematic capture

Flight testing

Hardware ownership

Mentoring juniors

Tools

STM32

SoMs

Gerbers

DFM

Job description

A YC-backed (W26) defence startup building autonomous drone systems for military and government customers. Six people. Strong early traction with defence and security partners internationally, shipping hardware that ends up in the field.

They're hiring a Founding Hardware Engineer to own the entire hardware stack. You'll start hands-on: prototyping, board bring-up, flight testing. You'll grow into building and leading the hardware org as the team scales.

What you’ll own

• PCB design end to end: flight controllers, motor drivers, power systems, companion computers, sensor boards (STM32, SoMs)
• Full lifecycle from schematic capture and routing through bring-up, flight testing and production, including DFM and Gerbers with manufacturers
• Standing up a UK manufacturing facility and the engineering culture around it
• Hiring and mentoring junior hardware engineers as the team grows

What you’ll need

• 4-10 years in hardware/electronics engineering, ideally with drone or UAV systems
• Genuine end-to-end PCB experience, schematic through to manufactured board
• Broad hardware range: power, analog, digital, embedded (STM32-class)
• Comfortable owning decisions and getting hands dirty, this is a building culture, not a managing one

Good to have

• Personal or professional drone/UAV build experience
• Prior experience hiring or managing 1-2 engineers
• Defence procurement or bid-writing exposure