Senior Electrical Engineer

Luminous; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Unlimited PTO

401(k)

On-site parking

Public transportation access

Job summary

Luminous Robotics is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer to own the robot's electrical systems, from schematic to field deployment on solar sites. You will design, debug and ship hardware and firmware, collaborating with power, controls, and software teams to scale production.

You will lead electrical safety design, real-time embedded firmware in C/C++, and field reliability for harsh outdoor environments. This is a hands-on role in a fast-growing startup.

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years designing electrical and embedded systems for hardware products.

Responsibilities

• Own electrical architecture and integration: power distribution, battery/BMS, motor drives, sensors, actuators; design schematics and PCBs; prototype, bring-up and manufacturing.
• Own electrical safety design: e-stop, shutdown architecture, thermal monitoring, HV isolation; plan bench and field testing.
• Write and maintain real-time embedded firmware in C/C++ for motor control, sensor acquisition, safety interlocks, and I/O.
• Design electronics for outdoor solar-site conditions: heat, dust, water, vibration; diagnose faults and verify fixes.
• Shape production-ready designs and contribute to hiring, mentoring, and design standards.

Skills

Electrical design

Embedded C/C++

CAN/CANopen

Power electronics

Lab testing

Troubleshooting

Team leadership

Schematic capture

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Vector CANoe

PCB design tools

Job description

The Role

Luminous Robotics is automating the construction of utility-scale solar farms. Our robot, LUMI, autonomously installs solar modules, taking on one of the most labour-intensive parts of solar construction. We are on a mission to commoditise harsh manual work by deploying embodied AI into the world’s hardest industrial environments, starting with solar.

Headquartered in Boston, with our Australian operation based in Melbourne, we’re scaling production and deployment. We need electrical systems that can be built consistently, diagnosed quickly and relied on in the field. That’s where you come in.

We’re looking for a Senior Electrical Engineer to own LUMI’s electrical systems and contribute to embedded firmware, from schematic to field deployment on solar sites. You’ll be our first dedicated electrical engineer, working with the team to refine our current systems, architect the improvements and then build, debug and ship them yourself. Your initial focus will be getting robots built and running reliably with our US team, turning what we learn in the field into better designs.

This is a hands-on role. You’ll design boards, write firmware, wire prototypes, and bring up power systems, working alongside mechanical, software, and manufacturing teams to get robots out of the warehouse and running reliably in the field as we scale production. Success means electrical systems that work together reliably, evidence that they meet safety and performance requirements, and designs the team can build and maintain.

What You’ll Own

Electrical architecture and integration. Design and integrate the robot’s electrical system: power distribution, battery and BMS integration, motor drives, sensors, and actuators. Develop schematics and PCB layouts, take boards through prototype and contract manufacturing, and own bring-up and debug. Select components and suppliers, making practical build-versus-buy decisions within time and budget constraints.

Electrical safety and validation. Own electrical safety design: e-stop and full-system shutdown architecture, battery and thermal monitoring, high-voltage isolation, and design reviews. Plan and run bench, integration, and field testing, with the equipment and data logging needed to verify performance and investigate failures.

Embedded controls and communications. Write and maintain real-time embedded firmware in C/C++ for motor control, sensor acquisition, safety interlocks, and I/O. Architect and manage the robot’s communication networks (CAN, CANopen, Ethernet, wireless links), including integrating third‑party components and reverse‑engineering undocumented ones when needed.

Field reliability. Design electronics that survive outdoor solar‑site conditions: heat, dust, water, and vibration. Diagnose electrical and embedded‑system faults, identify root causes and verify that corrective changes resolve them.

Design for production and team development. Make designs practical to manufacture, assemble, test and service. Help shape how the electrical engineering team grows: identify capability gaps, contribute to hiring, mentor engineers and technicians, and establish electrical design standards.

Qualifications

BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience. 10+ years designing electrical and embedded systems for hardware products that shipped or were field tested.

Full product‑cycle experience: schematic capture, PCB layout, prototype build, bring‑up, test, and handoff to manufacturing.

Embedded on microcontrollers, including real‑time control, closed‑loop PWM/motor control, and analog and digital I/O.

Deep, hands‑on experience with CAN and CANopen, including network design and analysis tools such as Vector CANoe or similar.

Experience with power electronics and DC systems; comfortable working safely around high current or high‑voltage batteries and drives.

Skilled with lab tools (scopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, bus analyzers) and at diagnosing problems across hardware and firmware.

Experience at a startup or small team, where you owned whole systems with little process or support around you.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with electric powertrains, battery packs, or other high‑voltage vehicle systems.

Work on autonomous, remotely operated, or unmanned systems (ground robots, UAVs, construction or industrial automation).

Industrial protocols beyond CAN (EtherCAT, Modbus, RS‑485).

A track record of shipping your own hardware product, or reverse‑engineering vehicle or machine networks.

Linux, Python, or ROS experience for test tooling and integration with the autonomy stack

Who You Are

You’re comfortable moving between a schematic, a test bench and a robot that isn’t behaving as expected. You can work through unfamiliar problems with limited support, make a practical engineering decision and test whether it was right. You take ownership through to a working result, work closely with other disciplines and use field evidence to improve the design.

If you don’t check all the boxes, but feel like you have the credentials and experience to be a good fit, please apply. We’d love to hear from you.

What’s On Offer

Health, dental and vision benefits

Unlimited PTO

401(k)

On‑site parking (limited availability) and access to public transportation.

Work on something that matters. Build robots that take on harsh manual work and help accelerate utility‑scale solar construction. Your engineering decisions will shape machines doing useful work in the world.

Build it and see it work. Take your decisions from the schematic and test bench to robots installing solar modules in the field. Work across power, controls, firmware and integration, with room to develop future capabilities as the product evolves.

Access to team off‑sites, workshops, and events.

Shape electrical engineering at Luminous. As our first dedicated electrical engineer, you’ll influence the architecture, standards and how the team grows.

Luminous Robotics is an equal opportunity employer.