Senior Electrical Systems Engineer

InnerPlant; Des Moines (IA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

InnerPlant seeks a Senior Electrical Systems Engineer to lead hardware and embedded system development for our living-sensor platforms. You will architect, design, and validate analog/digital circuits, power systems, and sensor interfaces for rugged field deployments, and drive production readiness.

You will collaborate with software, optical, mechanical, and product teams to deliver scalable, cost-effective hardware solutions while mentoring junior engineers and shaping engineering best

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field; Masters preferred.
• 8+ years of experience developing complex electronic systems.
• Strong experience with mixed-signal circuit design and embedded hardware.
• Experience designing sensor, imaging, communications, or industrial electronics systems.
• Experience with embedded Linux or microcontroller-based platforms.
• Familiarity with wireless communications, GPS/GNSS, or edge computing devices.
• Experience with cloud platforms like AWS IoT Core, RemoteIt, etc.
• Familiarity with SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet, CAN, or USB.
• Experience with optical sensing or precision agriculture technologies (preferred).
• Knowledge of design for manufacturability, design for test, and regulatory compliance (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Lead electrical system architecture for next-gen sensing platforms.
• Design analog and digital circuits for embedded hardware and sensors.
• Develop robust power distribution, battery management, and power optimization.
• Select components, create schematics, support PCB layout, and oversee prototypes.
• Define system requirements, interfaces, and verification plans.
• Perform hardware validation, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis.
• Support environmental, EMC, reliability, and field tests.
• Manage docs: design reviews, BOMs, test reports, and manufacturing docs.
• Collaborate with contract manufacturers and suppliers to transition to production.

Skills

Electrical system architecture

Analog and digital design

Power management

Embedded hardware

Sensor interfaces

PCB/layout support

System verification

EMC testing

Documentation & BOMs

Production transition

Education

Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering

Master's in Electrical Engineering (preferred)

Tools

Embedded Linux

Microcontroller platforms

AWS IoT Core

RemoteIt

SPI

I2C

UART

Ethernet

CAN

USB

Job description

About Us

InnerPlant is on a mission to transform farming as never before imagined: We give crops a voice by turning plants into living sensors that signal the onset of stress, enabling farmers to increase yields and reduce costs by optimizing inputs.

Your Role

As a Senior Electrical Systems Engineer, you'll play a critical role in developing and producing the hardware and systems that detect the optical signals from our living sensors. You will manage hardware, embedded systems, optics, and data acquisition to develop reliable products that operate in demanding agricultural environments. To achieve success as a Senior Electrical Engineer, you will:

• Lead electrical system architecture for next-generation sensing and imaging platforms
• Design analog and digital electronic circuits for embedded hardware and sensor interfaces
• Develop robust power distribution, battery management, and power optimization solutions for field-deployed systems
• Select components, create schematics, support PCB layout, and oversee prototype builds
• Define system-level requirements, interface specifications, and verification plans
• Perform hardware validation, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis
• Support environmental, EMC, reliability, and field testing to ensure dependable operation under real-world agricultural conditions
• Manage engineering documentation including design reviews, BOMs, test reports, and manufacturing documentation
• Partner with contract manufacturers and suppliers to transition designs into production

What Makes You Stand Out

• Be forward-thinking with respect to solutions that are scalable and cost-effective for near and long-term commercial objectives, balancing performance, reliability, ease of manufacture, and cost
• Collaborate across internal teams, in particular with software, optical, mechanical, and product engineering teams, to deliver integrated hardware solutions
• Relentlessly strive for continuous improvement, including design improvements
• Mentor junior members of the team and help establish engineering best practices
• Communicate cost/reliability tradeoffs of design decisions effectively

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline (Masters in EE preferred)
• 8+ years of experience developing complex electronic systems
• Strong experience with mixed-signal circuit design and embedded hardware
• Experience designing systems that integrate sensors, imaging devices, communications, or industrial electronics
• Experience with embedded Linux or microcontroller-based platforms
• Familiarity with wireless communications, GPS/GNSS, or edge computing devices
• Experience with cloud computing and fleet management platforms like AWS IoT Core, RemoteIt, etc
• Familiarity with communication protocols such as SPI, I²C, UART, Ethernet, CAN, or USB
• Experience with optical sensing, imaging systems, machine vision, or precision agriculture technologies (preferred)
• Knowledge of design for manufacturability (DFM), design for test (DFT), and regulatory compliance (preferred)

Benefits

InnerPlant provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. InnerPlant provides an amazing opportunity to work on some of the hardest problems facing humanity and help design the agricultural systems of the future. We're backed by John Deere, large farmers, and veteran venture capitalists.