Head of Hardware Design

Flux; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Flux in San Francisco is seeking an experienced electrical engineering leader to own hardware design practices for the world's first AI hardware engineer. You’ll guide the evolution of our ECAD tool’s core capabilities as well as the correctness of our AI Hardware Engineer’s system knowledge and design approach.

This is a high‑impact role for someone who has built complex electronics such as smartphones, wearables, or high‑performance compute at scale, translating real‑world constraints into

Qualifications

• Experienced electrical engineering leader with real product use in the field.
• Ability to translate real-world constraints into powerful hardware tools.
• Proven track record shipping complex electronics at scale.

Responsibilities

• Drive ECAD feature design and specs for core ECAD behaviors.
• Be the design partner to AI/ML with best practices and evaluation harnesses.
• Build out the Hardware Design function and scale the team.

Skills

RF & wireless

EMI/EMC & ESD

Power electronics

Analog & mixed-signal

High-speed digital

SI/PI

Education

B.S. in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

Cadence Allegro/OrCAD

Mentor Xpedition

KiCad

Zuken

Job description

Why Flux

Flux is taking the hard out of hardware. To do this, we’re building the world’s first AI hardware engineer. Founded in 2019, our platform enables anyone to go from idea to manufacturable board using nothing more than a natural language prompt. This democratizes a process that has historically required years of specialized expertise. We're going after a $15B+ electronic design automation market, backed by 8VC, Bain Capital Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Outsiders Fund, Figma board member John Lilly, and GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner. In February 2026, we closed a total of $37M in funding to accelerate that mission. What happens when we unlock the ability for anyone to make hardware? We fundamentally reshape the world. That's our mission, and we're just getting started.

The Role

We’re looking for an experienced electrical engineering leader who will own the hardware design practices and guiding principles of our platform. You’ll steer the evolution of our ECAD tool’s core capabilities as well as the correctness of our AI Hardware Engineer’s system knowledge and design approach. You'll actively partner with product leadership to shape and prioritize AI capability development, evaluation frameworks, and in developing scaled approaches to guide our community to successful PCB projects. In this role, you’ll grow our existing Hardware Design function and team.

This is a high‑impact, multidisciplinary role for someone who has experience building complex electronics that shipped at scale (e.g., smartphones, wearables, high‑performance compute, networking, robotics) and loves translating real‑world engineering constraints into powerful tools and AI behaviors.

What you’ll do

• Drive ECAD feature design & specs – Craft product requirements for core ECAD behaviors across placement/routing, constraints management, stackup, impedance control, DRC/DFM, manufacturing outputs, and prototyping workflows. Co-author specs, validate by running dogfooding initiatives, beta programs, and scaled user feedback.

• Be the design partner to AI/ML – Teach the world’s first AI hardware engineer how to design successful products. Define best practices, guardrails, and evaluation harnesses; curate datasets; review AI‑generated designs; create the AI expertise that will help more people build successful hardware on their first production run, without releasing the magic smoke.

• Build out the Hardware Design function – Start as a hands‑on manager with two existing reports. Over time, refine the team's core responsibilities, and build a larger team that produces reference designs, demos, product specs, training, and field feedback loops.

• Develop real hardware – Lead quick‑turn‑around prototypes (from schematic to bring‑up) that exercise product/AI capabilities. Instrument designs for SI/PI and power/thermal validation; close the loop with data.

• Amplify user insight – Adopt ownership and improve upon current user experience signals, feedback loops, and channeling user input into our iterative product design. Strategically invest in deeper customer relationships. Champion the user’s voice in cross‑functional forums. Partner closely with our software engineering department in ensuring AI evaluations are reflective of real-world user requirements.

• Product – Be the "voice of the customer" within the organization, addressing vision, strategy, research & discovery, prioritization and cross‑functional leadership.

What you’ll bring

• Deep EE breadth + depth with real products in the field. Comfortable spanning:

  • RF & wireless: from sub‑GHz to mmWave; matching, filtering, antenna/feed layout.

  • EMI/EMC & ESD: design‑for‑compliance, grounding/return paths, shielding, filtering.

  • Power electronics: DC‑DC (buck/boost), PMICs, PoE, motor/actuator control, power sequencing, efficiency/thermal trade‑offs.

  • Analog & mixed‑signal: sensor interfaces, data converters, low‑noise design.

  • High‑speed digital: DDRx, PCIe/SerDes, USB-C/USB4, MIPI, Ethernet (1G–25G+); timing, skew, and equalization considerations.

  • SI/PI: signal/power integrity analysis, decoupling strategies, return‑path control.

• PCB/stackup expertise: material selection and stackup definition, controlled impedance, differential pair tuning & length‑matching, via strategies (blind/buried, microvia, backdrill), HDI (high‑density interconnect), panelization, and build rules with fabs/EMS.

• DFM/DFT & manufacturing: hands‑on bring‑up and debug, test coverage, fixture definition; tight collaboration with CMs/ODMs.

• Tooling fluency: meaningful time in multiple ECADs (e.g., Altium, Cadence Allegro/OrCAD, Mentor Xpedition, KiCad, Zuken) and experience with simulation tools (SPICE, SI/PI such as ADS/HyperLynx/SIwave; 3D EM such as HFSS), plus lab instrumentation (oscilloscope, VNA, logic analyzer, power analyzer).

• Product sense & communication: ability to turn messy user needs into simple workflows; excellent written specs, diagrams, and presentations; confident with senior leadership and deep‑dive technical reviews.

• Leadership at multiple altitudes: thrive as both a hands‑on engineer and a manager; co‑develop core ECAD product strategy. Hire, mentor, and scale processes while staying close to the work.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience in a larger technical org (e.g., hardware product management or lead EE for critical subsystems at a world‑class company) with a track record of shipping at scale.

• On the ground factory and test, mass production, and quality/yield optimization experience. Actively participating in builds and carrying key responsibilities to realize designs at scale.

• Prior design‑partner or customer‑facing role (product management, applications, FAEs, field engineering, or cross‑functional liaison) that turned feedback into product wins.

• Hands‑on across ECAD platforms; passion for great engineering tools and workflows.

• Practical exposure to AI/ML (prompting/evaluation, data curation/labeling, or integrating ML‑assisted design tools).

Benefits & package

Competitive salary and meaningful equity, plus comprehensive benefits. Title/level will match experience and impact.

Flux is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.