Staff Electrical Engineer

Gatik; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Gatik in Santa Clara, CA seeks a Staff Electrical Engineer to own all electronic components on and off the vehicle, collaborate with Systems Engineering to bring-up and calibrate the stack, and drive production-ready solutions for high-frequency autonomous freight.

You will lead cross-functional work across hardware, software, and validation teams, review prototypes, and help establish architectures and best practices for reliable electrical integration.

Qualifications

• 7+ years leading electrical system development for complex mechatronic, vehicle, or robotics platforms.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Electrical Engineering or Mechatronics; Master’s preferred.
• Experience with sensor trade-offs and calibration strategies for autonomous systems.
• Experience in vehicle-level electrical integration, reliability, and design for manufacturability.
• Cross-functional collaboration across hardware, software, and systems teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and develop electrical/electronic components and overall system architecture for an autonomous vehicle platform.
• Collaborate across hardware, software, and systems teams to drive integration of sensors, compute, and power systems from concept through deployment.
• Serve as the technical point of contact for key component and sensor suppliers, guiding selection, validation, and integration decisions.
• Oversee vehicle- and system-level bring-up, ensuring readiness for calibration, testing, and manufacturing in close partnership with software and validation teams.
• Define and manage technical documentation, interface specifications, and deliverables to support New Product Introduction (NPI) and volume manufacturing.
• Support field performance improvements through structured investigation of vehicle issues and coordination with test, systems, and service teams.
• Contribute to the development and enforcement of engineering best practices for electrical system integration, verification, and vehicle reliability.
• Participate in design reviews, integration planning, and cross-functional problem-solving to ensure system-level performance and scalability.

Skills

Electrical system leadership

Sensor integration

Hardware-software coordination

Python scripting

MATLAB/Simulink

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical Engineering or Mechatronics

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

CAN/GMSL2 protocols

Job description

Who We Are

Gatik is in the business of autonomous freight, and that business is already on the road. Every day, Gatik's autonomous trucks move freight for Fortune 50 retailers, grocers and consumer brands across Texas, Arizona, Arkansas and Canada, connecting distribution centers and stores and keeping goods moving. At the heart of it all is the Gatik Driver™, our proprietary Level 4 autonomous driving system, powered by scalable, interpretable AI and engineered to deliver safe, reliable, high-frequency freight operations.

Gatik's momentum is real. With more than $600 million in contracted revenue and $200 million raised in our August 2026 Series D round, Gatik has taken one of the toughest challenges in autonomous technology and turned it into a proven commercial business.

And the market is paying attention. In 2026, Gatik earned a place on Forbes' America's Best Startup Employers list, and the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies. The Gatik Driver™ won an Edison Award for Advancements in Autonomous Driving, and Inc. named our Co-founder and Chief Engineer, Apeksha Kumavat, to its Female Founders 500 list.

There's a lot more road ahead, and some of the brightest, most driven minds in autonomous technology are building the next chapter at Gatik. We're taking on hard engineering problems, pushing the limits of what's possible and building on a commercial foundation that's already proven itself in the real world with some of the biggest companies in the world, like PepsiCo and Loblaw. If you're ambitious, love solving problems that matter and want to see your work make a real difference, you'll find plenty to get excited about here.

About the role

As a Staff Electrical Engineer in our Hardware Engineering team you will be responsible for all electronic components on and off the vehicle along with establishing processes needed to bring-up and to calibrate the stack. This means you are closely working with the Systems Engineering team to establish architectures meeting our requirements as well as bringing the system to production, while collaborating with a diverse and multidisciplinary team delivering high quality vehicles. You are following best engineering practices & standards in general and are able to be scrappy when needed to make progress. Your area of expertise is selecting, integrating, connecting and troubleshooting electronics and software bring-up. While the focus is on technical leadership and cross-functional coordination, a willingness to engage at a practical level—such as reviewing prototypes, validating system behavior, or supporting early integration efforts—is essential to drive informed decision-making and ensure real-world performance.

This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Santa Clara, CA office.

What you'll do

• Define and develop the electrical/electronic components and overall system architecture for an autonomous vehicle platform.
• Collaborate across hardware, software, and systems teams to drive integration of sensors, compute, and power systems from concept through deployment
• Serve as the technical point of contact for key component and sensor suppliers, guiding selection, validation, and integration decisions
• Oversee vehicle- and system-level bring-up, ensuring readiness for calibration, testing, and manufacturing in close partnership with software and validation teams
• Define and manage technical documentation, interface specifications, and deliverables to support New Product Introduction (NPI) and volume manufacturing
• Support field performance improvements through structured investigation of vehicle issues and coordination with test, systems, and service teams
• Contribute to the development and enforcement of engineering best practices for electrical system integration, verification, and vehicle reliability
• Participate in design reviews, integration planning, and cross-functional problem-solving to ensure system-level performance and scalability

What we're looking for

• 7+ years of experience leading electrical system development for complex mechatronic, vehicle, or robotics platforms
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field (Master's preferred, deep understanding of sensor technologies (camera, lidar, radar, ultrasound) and their integration into vehicle architectures
• Ability to evaluate sensor trade-offs and calibration strategies in the context of autonomous system design
• Experience with vehicle-level electrical integration, system reliability, and design for manufacturability
• Proven track record collaborating across hardware, software, and systems teams during bring-up and integration phases
• Experience in industries such as automotive, aerospace, robotics, or automation, particularly in fast-paced development environments
• Familiarity with scripting and automation tools to support system integration and validation (e.g., Python, command-line tools)
• Working knowledge of in-vehicle communication protocols such as GMSL2, CAN, CAN-FD, and LIN
• Familiarity with system modeling or simulation tools such as MATLAB/Simulink (preferred)
• Understanding of embedded system interfaces and microcontroller-based architectures (preferred)

Salary Range - $180,000-$260,000

More about Gatik

Founded in 2017, Gatik has grown into a commercial force in autonomous freight, operating trucks daily in live customer networks across the United States and Canada. We're headquartered in Santa Clara, California, but our impact is felt on the roads and in the supply chains that keep essential goods moving for some of the biggest companies in North America.

Our trucks do some of the most demanding work in freight, running high-frequency, time-sensitive routes between distribution centers and stores, where reliability matters every single day. For our customers, that means more capacity, better service and products arriving where they need to be, when they need to be there.

Behind it all is AI-first technology built from the ground up for autonomous trucking, capable of navigating highways and surface streets and tackling the complexity of real-world logistics at scale.

Visit Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles.

Notable News

For the latest company news, visit the Gatik newsroom.

Recent media coverage:

• TechCrunch: Self-driving truck startup Gatik raises $200M following PepsiCo deal
• Reuters: Gatik secures $200 million in funding as autonomous freight market accelerates
• Bloomberg: Driverless Trucks Can Save Lives on America's Roads
• PepsiCo website: PepsiCo and Gatik announce multi-year agreement to deploy autonomous freight in North America
• Wall Street Journal: Driverless Trucks Are Here - and They're Delivering Bags of Doritos
• CBS News: Pepsi deploys self-driving delivery trucks
• Bloomberg: Autonomous Trucking Firm Gatik Inks Contracts Worth $600 Million
• Forbes: Hundreds' Of Gatik Robot Delivery Trucks Headed For U.S. Roads
• CNBC-TV18: No more test runs: Gatik says driverless trucks are now a real, money-making business
• Forbes: Gatik And Loblaw Announce Largest Commercial Deployment Of AV Trucks

Taking care of our team

At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment's sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.

We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.

E-Verify Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Gatik participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program.