Principal Electrical Engineer (Hardware Design)

Freeform; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical + Dental + Vision

Stock options

401(k) plan

Relocation assistance

Paid time off

Life insurance

Casual dress & flexible hours

Free daily catered meals

Parental leave

Job summary

Freeform is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer in Los Angeles to design and develop custom electronics and compute systems for AI-native metal 3D printing factory systems. You will lead senior engineering efforts across high-performance compute, embedded hardware, and robotics, solving challenging problems with a first-principles approach.

You will drive electrical architecture, supplier decisions, and verification, while mentoring teams and ensuring robust, scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• Broad electrical engineering background with first-principles problem solving.
• Technical lead and system owner across full lifecycle.
• 15+ years designing and delivering complex electrical hardware.
• Advanced degree in electrical engineering.
• Experience with heterogeneous compute environments (FPGA, GPU, mixed architectures).
• Experience with sensors, high-speed imaging, telemetry systems.
• Embedded microcontroller design and firmware.
• Experience with high-speed data acquisition, motion/optomechanical systems, and robotics.
• Familiarity with industrial automation technologies and robotics.

Responsibilities

• Act as a technical lead and drive architectural decisions, execution quality, and accountability across the full lifecycle.
• Own electrical architecture, product requirements, and component selection.
• Lead bring-up, debugging, documentation, productization, manufacturing, and testing.
• Schedule management and ensuring continuous rate of innovation.
• Collaborate with other engineering disciplines to solve hard problems.

Skills

First-principles problem solving

Technical leadership

System architecture

Debugging with lab equipment

Modeling/simulation

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in electrical/computer engineering

Master’s or PhD in electrical engineering

Tools

FPGA

GPU

Embedded firmware

High-speed data acquisition

Motion control systems

Job description

• As a Principal Electrical Engineer at Freeform, you will play an integral role in the design and development of custom electronics and compute systems that bring our AI-native metal 3D printing factory systems to life
• You will solve challenging problems in fields such as high-performance compute, high speed communications, embedded hardware, motion control, autonomous robotic systems, and much more
• You will use a first principles approach to solving problems and tackling new areas within electrical engineering that you may not have directly worked on before
• Rapidly design, develop and test highly reliable electronics and compute systems that enable complex autonomous systems to perform reliability, repeatedly, and scalable
• Serve as the senior engineer on the team, driving technical direction, electrical architecture, product requirements, component selection, analysis, schematic capture, prototyping, bring-up, debugging, documentation, productization, manufacturing, and testing
• Challenge assumptions and learn new design approaches
• Drive component selection, analysis, schematic capture, prototyping, bring-up, debugging, documentation, manufacturing, and test
• Hands-on debugging of the unexpected via the use of laboratory test equipment, custom instrumentation, and testing setups
• Model and simulate circuit designs for analysis and performance
• Act as a technical lead, driving schedule and ensuring a continuous rate of innovation

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance (premium PPO and HMO options)
• Significant stock option packages
• Traditional and Roth 401(k)
• Relocation assistance provided
• Paid vacation, sick leave, and company holidays
• Life insurance
• Casual dress, flexible work hours, and regular catered team building events
• Free daily catered lunch and dinner, and fully stocked kitchenette
• Generous Paid Parental Leave and extended transition back to work for the birthing parent

The ideal candidate is capable of running projects from cradle to grave, acting as a technical lead, and has the ability to work effectively with other engineering disciplines3D printing experience is not required to be successful here - rather we look for smart, motivated, collaborative engineers who love solving hard problems and creating amazing technology!Broad electrical engineering background; well versed in electrical engineering fundamentals and comfortable taking a first-principles approach to solving problemsExperience operating as a technical lead and system owner, responsible for architectural decisions, execution quality, and technical accountability across the full lifecycleBachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or similar engineering discipline15+ years of professional experience designing and delivering complex electrical hardwareAdvanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in electrical engineeringExperience with heterogeneous compute environments, including FPGA, GPU, and mixed architecture systems, with the ability to make thoughtful tradeoffs across performance, latency, and system complexityExperience with sensors, high speed cameras/imaging systems, and similar physical telemetry systemsExperience with embedded microcontroller design and firmwareExperience with high-speed data acquisition systems, high-accuracy motion systems, high-speed scanning systems, optomechanical assemblies, and complex electromechanical systemsFamiliarity with industrial automation technologies and robotics