Senior Electrical Engineer

Chirp Robotics; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Job summary

CHIRP Robotics in Torrance, California is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer to own the avionics for our autonomous systems. You will lead electrical design from architecture and component selection through board bring-up and production, collaborating with firmware, radar, mechanical, and manufacturing engineers.

You will define electrical architectures, schematics, and power distribution, review layouts, and guide high-speed interfaces.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of electrical hardware development including board bring-up and production.
• Proficiency in schematic capture and PCB design tools; review multilayer layouts.
• Experience with Altium, KiCad and Cadence/Pspice.
• Design of processor-based electronics, analog interfaces, and DC/DC power supplies.
• Working knowledge of signal integrity, EMI/EMC, grounding and hardware protection.
• Strong lab debugging skills and firmware integration.

Responsibilities

• Define electrical architectures, interfaces, power budgets for embedded compute, sensing, and actuation.
• Design schematics and guide PCB layout for mixed-signal electronics and power distribution.
• Analyze signal integrity, power integrity, grounding, EMI/EMC; review layouts and resolve design risks.
• Lead board bring-up and characterize electrical performance using oscilloscopes and lab equipment.
• Integrate radar and sensor modules addressing power quality, timing, and interface integrity.
• Define and execute verification plans; troubleshoot failures; support EMC testing.
• Own design reviews, BOMs, lifecycle decisions, and manufacturing transfer.
• Mentor engineers and coordinate electrical decisions with firmware and mechanical packaging.

Skills

Electrical design

Board bring-up

Schematic capture

PCB layout review

Laboratory debugging

Power distribution

Signal integrity

EMI/EMC

Embedded firmware interaction

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Cadence/Pspice

Job description

We are seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer to design and own the avionics that power, connect, and support our autonomous systems. You will lead electrical design from architecture and component selection through board bring-up, system integration, verification, and production, working closely with firmware, radar, mechanical, and manufacturing engineers.

Responsibilities

• Define electrical architectures, interfaces, power budgets, and design requirements for embedded compute, sensing, communications, and actuation.
• Design schematics and guide PCB layout for mixed-signal electronics, processors, memory, sensors, and power conversion and distribution.
• Analyze signal integrity, power integrity, grounding, clocking, thermal constraints, and component derating; review layouts and resolve design risks.
• Lead board bring-up and characterize electrical performance using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, electronic loads, and other laboratory equipment.
• Integrate radar and other sensor modules, addressing power quality, timing, interface integrity, shielding, and electromagnetic compatibility.
• Define and execute verification plans, troubleshoot failures, and support environmental and EMC testing appropriate to the product.
• Own design reviews, bills of materials, component lifecycle decisions, and engineering changes; support test fixtures, manufacturing transfer, and production yield.
• Mentor engineers and coordinate electrical decisions with firmware, mechanical packaging, and system performance requirements.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• At least 7 years of electrical hardware development, including ownership of boards or subsystems taken through bring-up and production.
• Proficiency in schematic capture and PCB design tools, with experience reviewing multilayer PCB layouts.
• Experience with tools such as Altium, KiCad and Cadence/Pspice.
• Experience designing processor-based electronics, analog interfaces, and DC/DC power supplies and distribution.
• Working knowledge of signal integrity, power integrity, grounding, EMI/EMC, and hardware protection.
• Strong laboratory debugging skills and experience integrating electronics with embedded firmware.
• Experience with design documentation, verification, component selection, and manufacturing support.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with robotics, autonomous vehicles, aerospace electronics, or rugged embedded products.
• Experience with high-speed interfaces such as DDR, PCIe, USB, or Ethernet and their layout and validation requirements.
• Experience with RF or radar hardware integration, low-noise analog circuits, high-speed data converters, or precision clock distribution.
• Experience with FPGA or SoC platforms, battery-powered systems, motor drives, or actuator interfaces.
• Experience with environmental qualification, reliability analysis, design for test, and design for manufacturing.

$160,000 - $220,000 a year

Company Overview

CHIRP Robotics is a well-funded seed-stage startup operating in stealth mode and based in Torrance, California. The company aims to become a leading U.S. provider of modular intelligence and autonomous systems for a wide range of vehicles and applications. It has an impressive portfolio of patents on the hardware side and IP in software / algorithms. CHIRP’s CEO, a founding member of SpaceX, brings extensive technical expertise, a strong professional network, and significant business leadership experience.

Why Join Us?

• Opportunity to work on innovative and complex systems.
• Hands-on experience with a broad range of engineering challenges.
• Collaborative and growth-oriented work environment.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.