Electronics Technician

S27a; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Ulysses designs, manufactures, and operates autonomous vehicles for defense, commercial, and scientific missions. We seek a hands-on technician to keep our lab and robot builds moving, taking PCBAs, harnesses, and full robots from not-quite-working to field-ready, with growth potential into a lead role.

As we scale from tens to hundreds of robots, you will solder, rework PCBs, build harnesses, flash firmware, and diagnose issues, while maintaining lab organization and documentation to support

Qualifications

• Strong hands-on technician experience in lab, manufacturing, robotics, aerospace, or startup Hardware environment.
• Skilled at soldering, PCBA rework, inspection, and troubleshooting on dense assemblies.
• Experience building harnesses and reading wiring diagrams.
• Comfortable with lab equipment including oscilloscopes, DMMs, power supplies, microscopes, and rework stations.
• Able to read schematics, layouts, BOMs, and use PCB CAD tools (KiCad, Altium, EAGLE).
• Organized, detail-oriented, and able to own issues from start to finish.

Responsibilities

• Lab & inventory: keep the lab organized, manage component tracking, kitting, procurement, and vendors.
• PCBA & rework: inspect, troubleshoot, and rework PCBAs including fine-pitch ICs and BGAs.
• Robot assembly & debug: assemble, debug, and validate robot electrical systems.
• Cable harnesses: build, modify, and repair harnesses and test fixtures.
• Bring-up & test: flash firmware and perform functional tests and production acceptance.
• Diagnostics: diagnose failures with oscilloscopes, multimeters, and power supplies.
• Layout: work from schematics and BOMs; support DFx improvements.
• Documentation: maintain build instructions and test procedures; feed issues back to engineering.

Skills

Soldering

PCB rework

Harness wiring

Oscilloscopes & DMMs

Firmware flashing

Reading schematics

PCB CAD tools

Tools

KiCad

Altium

EAGLE

Job description

About us

Ulysses designs, manufactures, and operates autonomous surface and subsea vehicles for defense, commercial, and scientific missions. Our platform spans Mako (a modular AUV with 60-hour endurance), Leviathan (an autonomous surface mothership), and Kraken (an automated launch‑and‑recovery system).

Founded in 2023 and based in San Francisco, we've raised $48M from Andreessen Horowitz, Booz Allen Ventures, Harpoon Ventures, Pebblebed, and Lowercarbon Capital. We work with partners including the U.S. Navy, the Government of Australia, and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. We prototype in the shop, test on the water, and ship.

About the Role

You'll own the hands‑on work that keeps our lab and robot builds moving — the team's go‑to builder, reworker, and debugger, taking PCBAs, harnesses, and full robots from "not quite working" to field‑ready, and keeping the lab and inventory running. As we scale from tens of robots to hundreds, there's room to grow into a lead role.

What You’ll Do

• Lab & inventory: Keep the lab organized (tools, ESD, consumables, storage); manage component tracking, kitting, procurement, and vendors.

• PCBA & rework: Inspect, troubleshoot, and rework PCBAs, including fine‑pitch ICs, BGAs, connectors, and small passives (0402, 0201).

• Robot assembly & debug: Assemble, debug, and validate robot electrical systems: sensors, power, embedded controllers, batteries, motors, and comms.

• Cable harnesses: Build, modify, and repair harnesses, wiring assemblies, and test fixtures.

• Bring‑up & test: Flash firmware, run bring‑up, and execute incoming inspection, functional tests, and production acceptance.

• Diagnostics: Diagnose failures with oscilloscopes, multimeters, power supplies, logic analyzers, microscopes, and rework stations.

• Layout: Work from schematics, PCB layouts, BOMs, and assembly drawings; support design‑for‑manufacture improvements.

• Documentation: Maintain build instructions, rework notes, and test procedures; feed recurring issues back to engineering.

Requirements

• Strong hands‑on technician experience in a lab, manufacturing, robotics, aerospace, automotive, marine, or hardware‑startup setting.

• Skilled at soldering, PCBA rework, inspection, and troubleshooting on small, dense, fine‑pitch assemblies.

• Experience building harnesses, crimping connectors, and reading wiring diagrams.

• Confident with lab equipment: oscilloscopes, multimeters, power supplies, microscopes, hot‑air rework, and soldering stations.

• Comfortable flashing firmware (J‑Link, ST‑Link).

• Able to read schematics, layouts, BOMs, and work instructions; experience with PCB CAD (KiCad, Altium, EAGLE).

• Organized and detail‑oriented, with ownership over what's broken, blocked, or unclear.

• Comfortable in a fast‑moving environment where priorities shift and prototypes ship.

Nice‑to‑Haves

• PCBA line experience: solder paste, pick‑and‑place, reflow, stencils, feeders, inspection, rework.

• Scaling hardware from prototype to low‑volume production.

• Robotics, autonomous systems, marine, subsea, drones, or other harsh‑environment hardware.

• Conformal coating, potting, sealing, waterproofing, or environmental testing.

• Test fixtures, production jigs, and end‑of‑line test systems.

• ESD control, IPC standards, or manufacturing documentation.

• Embedded systems, batteries, motor controllers, sensors, CAN, Ethernet, or RS‑485.

• Interest in growing into a technician or manufacturing lead role.