Electrical Engineer

Merlin; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Unlimited vacation

401(k) with match

Job summary

Merlin Labs in Boston area is seeking an electrical engineer to design, integrate, and validate electrical systems for autonomous aircraft. You will work with cross-disciplinary teams to bring hardware from concept through flight testing and production.

The role requires hands-on hardware bring-up, lab debugging, and familiarity with avionics interfaces. Competitive benefits and startup environment offered.

Qualifications

• Experience designing electrical systems for complex electromechanical platforms.
• Hands-on hardware bring-up and lab debugging experience.
• Familiarity with FAA certification environments or regulated development is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and integrate electrical systems and hardware for autonomous aircraft platforms including power distribution, avionics interfaces, harnessing, sensors, communications, and embedded electronics
• Create schematics, wiring diagrams, and electrical documentation to support prototype and production hardware builds
• Support electrical architecture development, component selection, system integration, and hardware validation activities
• Collaborate with mechanical, avionics, software, systems engineering, manufacturing, and flight test teams for seamless integration
• Perform electrical analysis, troubleshooting, and root cause investigations
• Support prototype assembly, hardware bring-up, integration testing, and flight test operations
• Develop and execute electrical test plans, validation procedures, and qualification activities
• Work with suppliers and manufacturing partners for fabrication, sourcing, and production readiness
• Contribute to reliability, manufacturability, weight optimization, and power efficiency initiatives
• Operate effectively in a fast-moving development environment with evolving priorities

Skills

Communication skills

Team collaboration

Hands-on

Electrical design

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Multimeters

Logic analyzers

Job description

About Merlin

Merlin (NASDAQ: MRLN) is a publicly traded aerospace and defense company building a non-human pilot to deliver full-stack autonomy for any aircraft from takeoff to touchdown. The Merlin Pilot autonomy system powers a growing range of aircraft and mission profiles and has been proven through hundreds of autonomous flights from Merlin's global flight test facilities, including Kerikeri, New Zealand; Quonset Point, Rhode Island; and soon, Bedford, Massachusetts. Headquartered in Boston, Merlin is expanding its organization to accelerate the development and deployment of its autonomy platform, helping customers solve some of aviation's most pressing challenges, from pilot shortages to improving flight safety. Backed by some of the world's leading investors prior to its public listing, Merlin continues to advance the certification and commercialization of autonomous flight across commercial and defense aviation.

About You

You are a motivated and detail-oriented electrical engineer who is excited to help develop next-generation autonomous aerospace systems. You thrive in fast-paced startup environments where collaboration, ownership, and technical excellence are critical to success. You bring experience designing and integrating complex electrical systems for aerospace, robotics, autonomous systems, or other high-performance hardware applications. You enjoy solving challenging technical problems and working across multidisciplinary teams to bring advanced hardware from concept through flight testing and production. You are comfortable balancing rapid development timelines with the rigor required for mission-critical systems and regulated environments. You are hands‑on, adaptable, and passionate about building reliable, scalable electrical architectures that enable autonomous flight.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and integrate electrical systems and hardware for autonomous aircraft platforms including power distribution, avionics interfaces, harnessing, sensors, communications, and embedded electronics
• Create schematics, wiring diagrams, and electrical documentation to support prototype and production hardware builds
• Support electrical architecture development, component selection, system integration, and hardware validation activities
• Collaborate closely with mechanical, avionics, software, systems engineering, manufacturing, and flight test teams to ensure seamless integration across aircraft systems
• Perform electrical analysis, troubleshooting, and root cause investigations to resolve hardware and integration issues
• Support prototype assembly, hardware bring‑up, integration testing, environmental testing, and flight test operations
• Develop and execute electrical test plans, validation procedures, and qualification activities
• Work with suppliers and manufacturing partners to support fabrication, sourcing, and production readiness efforts
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives focused on reliability, manufacturability, weight optimization, power efficiency, and system performance
• Operate effectively in a fast‑moving development environment with evolving priorities and aggressive execution schedules

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related engineering discipline
• 1-3 years of professional electrical engineering experience in aerospace, autonomous systems, robotics, automotive, defense, or other high-performance hardware industries
• Experience designing and integrating electrical systems for complex electromechanical platforms
• Experience creating wiring diagrams, wiring harness documentation, and electrical integration drawings
• Knowledge of power systems, signal integrity, embedded hardware, sensors, communications interfaces, and avionics integration principles
• Hands‑on experience with hardware bring‑up, lab debugging, electrical testing, and troubleshooting
• Familiarity with oscilloscopes, multimeters, logic analyzers, and other electrical lab equipment
• Understanding of EMC/EMI considerations, grounding strategies, and reliability-focused design practices
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering teams
• Experience supporting autonomous aircraft, UAVs, eVTOL platforms, robotics systems, or flight hardware development is highly preferred
• Hands‑on mechanical prototyping a plus (3d printing, laser cutting, etc.)
• Familiarity with FAA certification environments, aerospace standards, or regulated development processes is a plus

Merlin Labs offers an innovative, entrepreneurial, and team‑focused startup environment. We also offer a top‑notch benefits package (health, dental, life, unlimited vacation, and 401k with match) and work/life integration. Being part of the Merlin team allows you to become part of a small team that supports professional development while working together to achieve our mission.

Merlin Labs is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, military service or obligation or disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. All job offers are contingent upon the candidate passing background and reference checks.

At this time, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or consider candidates who require visa transfers. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre‑employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to: [e-mail]

Merlin Labs does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from candidates.

The compensation range provided is a good‑faith estimate based on a wide range of factors, inclusive of base salary only. The actual offer will be determined by a variety of factors including the candidate's qualifications, skills, experience, education, and training. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Merlin's total compensation package. Additionally, Merlin offers top‑tier benefits for full‑time employees.