Founding Electrical Engineer

Clera; New York (NY); On-site; USD 135,000 - 172,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Base salary $150,000 USD annually

Equity up to 1–2%

Job summary

Clera is building an AI-powered wearable and seeks a founding Electrical Engineer to own all electronics from schematic to production handoff. You will work directly with the founder and have a meaningful equity stake in a YC-backed startup.

The role demands leadership as the hardware team scales in a fast-paced environment. You will own the full electrical and PCB design, drive rapid iteration, and lead consumer hardware from prototype to mass production, collaborating with firmware and

Qualifications

• 3+ years hands-on PCB/board design experience.
• Track record of shipping consumer hardware products.
• Strong background in consumer electronics and embedded hardware.
• Experience integrating sensors (biometric, audio, etc.) into compact devices.
• Able to move fast in an early-stage startup, wearing multiple hats.

Responsibilities

• Own full electrical and PCB/board design end-to-end for the wearable.
• Iterate hardware rapidly across revisions in a prototype-heavy environment.
• Lead hardware from prototype to mass production.
• Collaborate with firmware and mechanical teams for tight integration.
• Define and uphold electrical engineering standards as the team scales.
• Take a leadership role in the hardware org as the company grows.

Skills

PCB/board design

shipping hardware products

consumer electronics

embedded hardware

sensor integration

Job description

About the Role

This is a founding-level hardware role at a Y Combinator–backed startup building an AI-powered wearable in the emotional intelligence space. The company — a small, fast-moving team of five — is developing a consumer wrist device that reads real-time emotional states using a proprietary AI inference model across audio and biometric signals. Prototypes are already on users' wrists.

As the Founding Electrical Engineer, you will own all things electronics — from schematic to board layout to production handoff. You'll work directly alongside the founder (an ex-Apple hardware product designer) and have a defining impact on the product as the company scales. This is a high-ownership role with meaningful equity.

What You'll Do

• Own the full electrical and PCB/board design for the wearable device end-to-end
• Drive rapid hardware iteration across device revisions in a fast-paced, prototype-heavy environment
• Lead consumer hardware from functional prototype through to mass production
• Collaborate closely with firmware and mechanical teams to ensure tight hardware integration
• Define and uphold electrical engineering standards and processes as the team grows
• Take on a leadership role in the hardware org as the company scales

What We're Looking For

Required

• 3+ years of hands-on experience in PCB/board design
• Demonstrated track record of shipping physical, consumer-grade hardware products
• Strong background in consumer electronics and embedded hardware
• Experience integrating sensors (biometric, audio, or similar) into compact form-factor devices
• Comfort operating at the pace of an early-stage startup — iterating quickly, wearing multiple hats

Nice to Have

• Experience at a consumer electronics company (wearables, mobile hardware, or similar)
• Background taking devices from EVT/DVT/PVT through to mass production
• Familiarity with low-power design and BLE/wireless integration in compact hardware
• Experience with signal processing or biosensor hardware

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary: $150,000 USD annually
• Equity: Up to 1–2% (founding-level grant)
• Seed-stage company backed by Y Combinator (S26)

Location

This is an on-site role, with San Francisco also considered. The primary listed location is New York, NY, USA.

Visa sponsorship: No new visa sponsorship is available. H-1B transfers are accepted.