Senior Manager of Electrical Engineering, Compute & Sensing Austin, TX

Apptronik; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Apptronik in Austin, TX is seeking a visionary Senior Manager of Electrical Engineering to lead the compute and sensing stack for next‑gen humanoid robots. You will build, mentor, and grow a specialized team focused on high-performance compute and sensing systems.

You will bridge silicon and sensing, overseeing custom carrier boards, SoM integration, and data protocols while balancing power, thermal, and reliability.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering.
• 10+ years in Electrical Engineering with a focus on high-speed digital design and at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Experience shipping products based on NVIDIA Jetson or similar SoM, with custom carrier board design and bring-up.

Responsibilities

• Recruit, hire, and retain electrical engineers specializing in high-speed digital design, signal integrity, and embedded systems.
• Provide technical guidance during design reviews, ensuring PCB layout, thermal management, and EMI/EMC compliance.
• Collaborate with Software and Perception leads to define the hardware roadmap for next-generation compute architecture.
• Lead development of custom, ruggedized carrier boards for high-performance SoMs (NVIDIA), optimized for power and space.
• Oversee implementation and validation of high-speed data protocols.
• Define the power architecture for the compute cluster with stability under high-transient loads.
• Direct electrical integration of diverse sensor modalities.
• Optimize sensor synchronization for low-latency data in the autonomy stack.
• Ensure robust data transmission across complex robot harnesses with noise mitigation.

Skills

High-speed digital design

Signal integrity

Embedded systems

NVIDIA Jetson

Multi-layer PCB

Power integrity

Sensor interfaces

SoM bring-up

Education

B.S. in Computer/Electrical Engineering

Tools

PCB design tools

Job description

Senior Manager of Electrical Engineering, Compute & Sensing

Austin, TX

Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life. Our flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate thoughtfully with people, starting with critical industries such as manufacturing and logistics, with future applications in healthcare, the home, and beyond. We operate at the cutting edge of Applied AI, applying our expertise across the full robotics stack to solve some of society's most important problems. You will join a team dedicated to bringing Apollo to market at scale, tackling the complex challenges like safety, commercialization, and mass production to change the world for the better.

JOB SUMMARY

Apptronik is seeking a visionary Senior Manager of Electrical Engineering to lead the team responsible for the "nervous system" and "brain" of our next-generation humanoid robots. In this role, you will build, mentor, and grow a specialized engineering team dedicated to defining and developing our high-performance compute and sensing stack.

You will bridge the gap between silicon and sensing, overseeing the design of custom high-speed carrier boards and the integration of diverse sensor modalities. This is a leadership position that requires deep technical "in-the-trenches" experience with modern SoMs and high-bandwidth data acquisition, combined with the strategic mindset needed to scale a world-class hardware team.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES or KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Recruit, hire, and retain top-tier electrical engineers specializing in high-speed digital design, signal integrity, and embedded systems.
• Provide deep technical guidance during design reviews, ensuring the team adheres to best practices for PCB layout, thermal management, and EMI/EMC compliance.
• Collaborate with Software and Perception leads to define the hardware roadmap for our next-generation compute architecture.
• Lead the development of custom, ruggedized carrier boards for high-performance SoMs (specifically NVIDIA), optimized for the unique power and space constraints of a humanoid robot.
• Oversee the implementation and validation of high-speed data protocols.
• Define the power architecture for the compute cluster, ensuring stable delivery under high-transient loads and harsh electrical environments.
• Direct the electrical integration of diverse sensors modalities.
• Optimize the electrical interface and synchronization of sensors to ensure low-latency data for the autonomy stack.
• Ensure robust data transmission across complex robot harnesses, mitigating noise and interference in a high-power actuator environment.

SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Proven track record of shipping products based on the NVIDIA Jetson platform (or similar SoM), including custom carrier board design and bring-up.
• Expert-level understanding of high-speed PCB design (12+ layers), signal integrity simulation, and power integrity analysis.
• Deep knowledge of electrical interfaces for perception sensors (GMSL2, FPD-Link III, Ethernet, CAN-FD).
• Preferred Experience in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or high-performance edge computing.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• B.S in Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering
• 10+ years in Electrical Engineering with a focus on high-speed digital design, including 3+ years in a formal people-management or leadership role.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times
• Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen
• Hearing and speech to communicate

*This is a direct hire. Please, no outside Agency solicitations.

Apptronik 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.

Technology Control Restrictions: As a person in this position will have access to technical data and/or computer software maintained by the Company, which includes export-controlled technical data and/or computer software, successful applicants must be eligible under U.S. export control regulations to access such information.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Apptronik’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.