Senior Electrical Engineer

Cargo Robotics; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company-sponsored medical and dental

401(k) with company match

Unlimited PTO

Free lunch every day

Job summary

Cargo Robotics is building the logistics infrastructure of the next century. We seek an experienced electrical engineer to own the architecture and development of key robotic systems as we launch pilots for X1.

You’ll shape the hardware team, drive production-readiness, and contribute directly to the deployment of robotics in real-world environments. You’ll work hands-on on the electrical system, collaborate across disciplines, and mentor teammates while delivering reliable, scalable hardware

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or higher.
• 8+ years of experience in production environments, preferably robotics or automation.
• Experience owning a significant robotics electrical system from prototype to volume production.

Responsibilities

• Own the overall electrical system architecture and subsystems for pilots and scale-up, including power, sensors, and communication.
• Develop a cohesive architecture, roadmap, and release schedule balancing short and long-term goals.
• Audit and redesign large portions of the electrical system for production-grade reliability and manufacturability.
• Lead and collaborate with junior teammates, technicians, and external partners to achieve objectives.
• Ensure reliable operation for demos, pilots, and production, preventing failure modes.
• Improve fabrication and test processes; lead development of fixtures and qualification activities.
• Document electrical work for reliable assembly by manufacturing partners.
• Work with certification bodies to meet electrical and safety standards.
• Mentor new team members and contractors as the team grows.
• Support pilots and deployments in the US and abroad, scaling to large unit volumes.

Skills

Electrical system design

Robotics hardware

Prototype to production

Firmware/C++ knowledge

EMI/EMC mitigation

Power electronics

Education

BS or higher in EE

Tools

CAN bus

RS485

EtherCAT

GMSL

I2C

SPI

Job description

At Cargo, we’re backed by some of the best robotics investors in the Valley to transform a massive legacy industry and we’re more than doubling our engineering team to satisfy overwhelming customer demand.

If you’re an exceptional electrical engineer with a passion for robotics, we want to talk to you. See the JD and instructions on how to get in touch with us below.

About us

Cargo Robotics is creating the logistics infrastructure of the next 100 years by automating the entire delivery chain with containerized physical AI, starting at the delivery van.

Every day, millions of delivery drivers spend hours loading, organizing, and searching for packages in their vehicles. It's physically brutal, wildly inefficient, and one of the most important unsolved problems in global logistics. Our founders worked undercover at UPS and FedEx before starting Cargo, and their experience living these problems firsthand shapes everything we build.

Our first product is the X1 Robotic Cargo Bay, which turns every delivery vehicle into a robotic warehouse. This is the first step to build fast, flawless, and fully automated logistics networks of the future.

We're backed by leading robotics investors and building alongside teammates from Tesla, NASA JPL, Lockheed Martin, Saildrone, Machina Labs, Roam Robotics, Stanford AI Lab, Stanford, Georgia Tech, and Caltech. We are doubling our engineering team and accelerating to meet overwhelming demand from some of the world’s largest logistics companies.

The role

We're looking for a versatile electrical engineer who loves building real hardware to take ownership of the architecture and development of key robotic systems as we launch pilots for X1. You’ll play a central role on our hardware team unifying prototype electrical systems into a cohesive and scalable product and driving them through manufacturing, deployment, and production scale up. We are a small team, and every engineer has outsize impact on the product. We’re also a user and product-centric company, so expect to deliver some actual parcels in your first week at work!

What you’ll do

• Take ownership of the overall electrical system architecture and subsystems to enable success during pilots and at scale including communication and processing (PCBs, microcontrollers, communication protocols, sensors, cameras, cables) and the power system (batteries, motors, and drivers). This also includes designing for processes like assembly and maintenance, and goals like cost, reliability, and lifespan (accounting for high and low operating temps, vibration, and movement cycles).
• Develop a cohesive architecture, development roadmap, and release schedule balancing short and and long term product goals
• Audit and redesign significant portions of the existing electrical system to bring it to production-grade reliability and manufacturability
• Effectively leverage junior teammates, technicians, and outside collaborators to rapidly implement and achieve overall objectives
• Enable reliable system operation for demos, pilots, and production, anticipating and eliminating failure modes before they occur
• Upgrade the rigor of our internal fabrication, qualification and test processes: tools and equipment, train engineers and technicians, lead creation and maintenance of R&D and production test fixtures.
• Bring electrical documentation up to snuff for reliable assembly by manufacturing partners
• Work with relevant certification organizations to identify and satisfy relevant electrical and safety standards
• Help recruit, manage, and mentor new team members and contractors as we grow
• Work hard and ship fast modeling ownership, integrity, hands-on building, and a production mindset
• Directly support and debug our pilots and customer deployments in the US and abroad, and tackle any and all electrical and production issues on the way to 10’s, 100’s and 1000’s of units operating continuously

Personal characteristics: you are

• Biased toward action: take initiative and get stuff done
• Driven and gritty: can take punches and keep on going
• A quick study: learn fast and teach those around you
• Calm in chaos: keep your composure and work through the hurricane
• Self-aware and low ego: take and give feedback with grace

You need to bring this

• BS or higher in EE, 8+ years experience, 4+ in production environments
• At least one cycle owning a significant robotics, automation, or automotive electrical system from prototype to volume production, and in a support or sustaining engineering role for a mature product. This should have involved significant signal and power design (PCBs), and integration of actuators, sensors, cable harnesses (including for continuous motion), and environmental-rated enclosures and connectors
• Expert with lab instruments such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, DC loads, power supplies, spectrum analyzers, etc.
• Experience designing test fixtures, defining acceptance criteria, and developing reliability validation plans
• Excellent verbal communication and writing skills conveying technical information to technical and non-technical teammates and documenting technical work
• Have diagnosed real-world failures in the field and designed / redesigned systems for increased reliability, serviceability, and long cycle life under heat/cold, vibration, and shock loads that held up in production (EMI/EMC mitigation, power domains and grounding strategies, shielding, noise in mixed-signal systems, intermittent faults, ruggedization & shock isolation / potting, continuous cable design, airflow optimization, etc.)
• Experience designing power system architecture: distribution, high current buck / boost converters, LFP and NMC battery chemistries and BMS systems, motors and drivers (BLDC, industrial servo, stepper), safety and fusing, etc.
• Experience selecting and implementing processing and communications architecture including microcontrollers (ESP32, STM, etc.) and relevant communication protocols (CAN bus, RS485, Ethercat, GMSL, I2C, SPI, etc.)
• Fluent in embedded systems concepts and can collaborate deeply with firmware engineers. Ideally has significant firmware / C++ / etc. experience, or other programming knowledge
• Experience breaking executive product goals down into detailed subsystem engineering plans, and owning the performance goals and deadlines from prototype to customer deployment
• You thrive in startup environments, and can multi-task and manage conflicting priorities

We’d love if you also have this

• Standards and safety: Experience with designing safety certified systems (such as ISO / ANSI / RIA / IEC / UL etc.). Ideally including safety certified e-stop architecture such as cat 3 relays, PLCs, and light curtains.
• Strong electronics and programming fundamentals including ROS or Python
• Competitive salary and meaningful early-stage equity
• Company-sponsored medical and dental
• 401(k) with company match
• Unlimited PTO
• Free lunch every day

How We Work

We're an in-person team in Menlo Park. Building world-class hardware requires rapid iteration, hands‑on collaboration, and frequent testing. We’ve got an inspiring industrial office space with an outdoor picnic area and palm trees, and you’ll love coming in every day!

We also value generalists with the motivation to learn and solve important problems, so we’d love to hear from you even if you don’t have every qualification.