Electrical Engineer (Launcher)

United States Digital Space LLC; Paris (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Harmattan AI seeks a senior hardware engineer to own electronics design end-to-end for field-deployable drone-launcher hardware. You will design mixed-signal and power boards, optimize BOMs, and ensure robust thermal and EMC performance for rugged outdoor environments.

The role requires autonomous work in a small team, bridging hardware and firmware, and coordinating with mechanical and manufacturing teams to enable mass production.

Qualifications

• Senior hardware engineer with PCB design and production shipping.
• Experience with high-power DC/DC conversions and thermal management.
• Ability to bridge hardware and firmware and work autonomously.
• Experience in rugged outdoor deployments is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Schematic Design - design complete schematics for mixed-signal and power boards.
• PCB Layout & Routing - lead board placement and routing with signal integrity focus.
• Power & Thermal Architecture - define and validate power and thermal strategy, including battery management.
• Environmental Robustness - ensure electronics withstand outdoor deployment and define qualification plan.
• Component Selection & BOM Optimization - select components with cost, availability and reliability in mind; drive BOM cost reductions.
• Hardware Bring-up & Debug - lead board bring-up, debug with oscilloscopes and bench equipment; write bring-up scripts.
• EMC & Safety Compliance - address EMC challenges and ensure signal integrity and electrical safety.
• Collaboration with Embedded SW - work with software to define hardware interfaces; assist firmware bring-up.
• Collaboration with Mechanical - ensure PCB integration into enclosures; handle connectors and thermal path.
• Supplier & Manufacturing Ramp-up - qualify PCB manufacturers and assembly houses; support DFM/DFA; manage NPIs.
• Documentation - maintain schematics, layouts, test procedures and hardware specs.

Skills

PCB Design

Power Electronics

Thermal Management

Mixed-Signal Design

EMC & Safety

DFM/DFA

BOM Management

Hardware Bring-up

Lightning Protection

Tools

Altium Designer

Oscilloscopes

Bench Equipment

Job description

About UsHarmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.

Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.

Overview

Harmattan AI is developing new hardware products within the Launcher module: field-deployable drone launchers designed to be deployed and operated autonomously in demanding field environments. These products require dedicated electronics design with complex architecture in a constrained environment – PCBs integrating power conversion, energy management, control and communication interfaces – optimised for cost at volume. The Launcher team is seeking a dedicated hardware engineer to own electronics design end-to-end and accelerate the path to production milestones.

Ideal candidate

A senior hardware engineer who has designed and shipped complex PCBs, ideally mixing digital and significant power (hundreds of watts), into production. They are rigorous on schematics, layout, and bring-up, and have a strong instinct for cost and manufacturability. They design with real-world operating conditions in mind - temperature, moisture, surges - and an interest in battery thermal management; direct experience of outdoor-deployed equipment is a plus rather than a prerequisite. They are comfortable working autonomously in a small team and can bridge hardware and firmware.

Skills required

• PCB schematic and layout design (Altium Designer preferred)
• Power electronics design: ~300 W DC/DC conversion, protection, derating, efficiency and thermal budgets
• Thermal regulation: temperature sensing and control loops, battery storage temperature management, heatsinking
• Power over Ethernet (IEEE 802.3af/at/bt): combined power and data delivery, isolation, cable budgets
• Mixed-signal design: power management, MCU interfaces, communication buses (SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN, Ethernet)
• Hardware bring-up and debug: bench equipment proficiency
• DFM/DFA for PCB manufacturing and assembly
• Component selection and BOM management
• Experience in lightning and surge protection is a plus

Responsibilities:

• Schematic Design - Design complete schematics for mixed-signal and power boards, from power stages to digital and communication sections.
• PCB Layout & Routing - Perform or lead board placement and routing with attention to signal integrity, EMC, and power-path constraints.
• Power & Thermal Architecture - Define and validate the power architecture of the product and the thermal strategy, including battery temperature management.
• Environmental Robustness - Ensure the electronics withstand outdoor deployment conditions and define the associated qualification plan.
• Component Selection & BOM Optimization - Select components with cost, availability, and reliability in mind; drive BOM cost reduction for mass production volumes.
• Hardware Bring-up & Debug - Lead board bring-up, debug issues with oscilloscopes, power bench equipment, and other bench equipment; write bring-up scripts when needed.
• EMC & Safety Compliance - Address EMC challenges; ensure signal integrity across the board and electrical safety of the power and battery sections.
• Collaboration with Embedded SW - Work closely with the embedded software engineer to define hardware/software interfaces; support firmware bring-up.
• Collaboration with Mechanical - Ensure seamless PCB integration into mechanical enclosures (connectors, mounting, thermal, sealing, shielding).
• Supplier & Manufacturing Ramp-up - Qualify PCB manufacturers and assembly houses; support DFM/DFA review for production; manage NPI transitions.
• Documentation - Maintain schematics, layout files, test procedures, and hardware specifications.

We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.