Electrical Engineer — Robotics & Autonomous Systems

Zadar Labs, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation and equity

Daily catered lunch

Free snacks and beverages in office

Discounted Bay Club gym membership

Job summary

Zadar Labs, Inc. seeks an Electrical Engineer for autonomous systems to design, test, and scale radar hardware for safety-critical applications.

You will own board design, bring-up, validation, and production support for 60-77 GHz mmWave peripherals, collaborating with sensing, mechanical, firmware, and manufacturing teams. The role is based onsite in Campbell, CA (5 days/week) with occasional travel to support deployments and production.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience in electrical hardware design and board bring-up.
• BS or higher in Electrical Engineering required.
• Experience with schematic capture, PCB layout, and component selection.

Responsibilities

• Design and revise schematics for perception sensors and related electronics.
• Perform PCB layout and ensure signal integrity and grounding.
• Support EMI/EMC testing and global compliance.
• Coordinate with fabrication partners and provide DFM feedback.
• Plan and execute board bring-up and electrical validation.
• Investigate failures, reproduce issues, and apply corrective actions.
• Manage hardware revisions from prototype to production ramp.
• Maintain BOMs and revision documentation.
• Collaborate with manufacturing to resolve build issues.

Skills

Electrical hardware design

Board bring-up

Electrical debugging

Signal integrity

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering

Tools

ECAD tools

Job description

About the Role

Zadar Labs is a leading perception sensor and perception solutions company serving robotics, autonomous systems, industrial automation, mobility, and smart infrastructure. We help robots, vehicles, and intelligent machines understand their surroundings and operate reliably in complex, unpredictable environments.

Our work focuses on safety-critical applications where machines must make dependable decisions and operate alongside people. Across robotics, mobility, and industrial automation, we turn advanced engineering into robust products built for real-world deployment.

We’re looking for engineers who want to own meaningful technical challenges and shape how autonomous machines perceive, move, and interact with the physical world.

About the Role

We are seeking a hands-on Electrical Engineer - Autonomous Systems & Physical AI to help design, build, test, and scale Zadar products for demanding, safety-critical applications.

This is a high-ownership electrical engineering role spanning schematic design, PCB layout, board bring-up, validation, and production. You will work on 60-77 GHz mmWave radar hardware and supporting electronics within Zadar’s perception sensor platforms. You will work closely with sensing, mechanical, firmware, manufacturing, and customer-facing teams to turn advanced designs into reliable, manufacturable products for autonomous machines, and support them from prototype through deployment.

The ideal candidate has an Electrical Engineering degree and more than 3 years of hands-on experience, with a strong foundation in board-level electrical design. You should be comfortable owning board revisions, debugging hardware in the lab, working directly with suppliers, and driving technical issues through verified resolution. Your engineering decisions will help shape the reliability and performance of systems operating in the physical world.

This role is based onsite in Campbell, California (5 days/week) and includes international travel to support customer deployments and production.

Salary Range: 130,000-200,000

What You’ll Do

Hardware Design and Product Development

• Design and revise schematics for perception sensors, compute modules, power supplies, interfaces, and support electronics; select components and perform design reviews
• Perform PCB layout and layout reviews, including component placement, routing, stackups, controlled impedance, grounding, and signal and power integrity
• Support EMI/EMC testing and global compliance efforts across automotive, industrial, and consumer spaces
• Contribute to ruggedize designs, including connector selection, grounding, shielding, ESD, EMI, thermal, and mechanical integration considerations
• Coordinate directly with PCB fabrication and assembly partners on materials, stackups, fabrication capabilities, DFM feedback, manufacturing files, and technical questions before and during builds

Bring-Up, Debug, and Failure Analysis

• Plan and execute board bring-up and electrical validation using oscilloscopes, multimeters, electronic loads, and logic analyzers; debug power rails, clocks, resets, digital interfaces, and hardware/firmware interactions
• Investigate field returns and failures from engineering builds, production, and qualification testing; reproduce issues, isolate root causes, and verify corrective actions
• Document test results and failure analysis, and drive corrective actions through board revisions, supplier changes, process improvements, and expanded test coverage

Product Lifecycle and Manufacturing Support

• Manage hardware revisions from prototype and EVT/DVT/PVT builds through production ramp and sustaining engineering, including release readiness and build documentation
• Maintain BOMs, approved component alternates, engineering change orders, and fabrication and assembly release packages; keep design revisions and production builds aligned
• Work with contract manufacturers and onsite production teams to resolve build issues and define assembly processes, work instructions, inspection criteria, and rework procedures
• Manage component lifecycle risks, including product change notices, obsolescence, and availability; qualify substitutions with engineering and supply chain teams
• Review production yield, test failures, and field feedback to improve product quality, manufacturability, cost, and build repeatability

Test Engineering and Fixtures

• Design, build, and maintain electrical test fixtures and simple mechanical assembly jigs for board programming, bring-up, calibration, production, and QC
• Develop and maintain scripts for automated hardware testing, instrument control, data collection, and production screening
• Define test procedures, coverage, pass/fail criteria, and QC checks that detect assembly defects and verify product performance
• Improve calibration and end-of-line test workflows, including fixture documentation, operator usability, and result traceability
• Help plan, coordinate, and execute environmental and reliability testing, including HALT, thermal cycling, shock/vibe, and other related test activities

What We’re Looking ForCore Requirements

• More than 3 years of professional experience in electrical hardware design, board bring-up, and product development
• BS or higher in Electrical Engineering required
• Demonstrated experience designing board-level electronics, including schematic capture, component selection, and hands-on PCB layout using professional ECAD tools
• Strong understanding of analog and digital circuits, power supplies, embedded interfaces, and practical signal and power integrity
• Proficiency with lab instrumentation and systematic board-level debugging; ability to independently drive electrical issues from investigation through verified resolution
• Experience releasing and revising hardware for fabrication and assembly, with disciplined documentation, attention to detail, and follow-through

Additional Relevant Experience

• Experience in several of the following is valuable; expertise in every area is not expected:
• Multilayer PCB design, fabrication processes, and design for manufacturing and test
• High-speed digital design and debugging
• Signal and power integrity
• Embedded systems hardware
• Power supply design
• Environmental qualification, EMI/EMC testing, and hardware failure analysis
• Linux-based systems and basic command-line workflows
• Python scripting for test automation
• Ethernet, MIPI CSI-2, PCIe, SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, and other embedded interfaces
• Mechanical design of simple jigs, fixtures, brackets, and adapters using SolidWorks or similar CAD tools
• Production test automation, yield improvement, and manufacturing quality processes

Communication and Ownership

• Strong communicator with internal engineering teams, suppliers, contract manufacturers, and test labs
• Ability to take ownership and drive issues to resolution independently
• Attention to detail and persistence when working through integration challengesComfortable coordinating across electrical, RF, mechanical, firmware, software, manufacturing, and operations teams

Logistics

• Based in or willing to relocate to Bay Area, CA
• Full-time onsite presence at our Campbell, CA headquarters is required (5 days per week)
• Occasional domestic or international travel may be required to support manufacturing and customer deployments

This is a high-growth role with a path to:

• Own major hardware subsystems across Zadar perception sensor products
• Own hardware releases, lifecycle improvements, and production ramp-up
• Define next-generation perception sensor hardware architectures
• Expand into technical leadership across hardware, manufacturing, test, or systems engineering

Strong performance in this role creates opportunities to expand scope and responsibility.

Why Zadar

• Work on systems that ship and deploy at global scale
• High ownership and direct customer impact
• Small, focused team with fast execution
• Competitive compensation and meaningful equity
• Daily catered lunch
• Free snacks and beverages in office
• Discounted Bay Club gym membership

Zadar Labs is an equal opportunity employer committed to building an inclusive and supportive workplace for all employees.