Hardware Engineer — Munition Systems

About the Role & Project

We are engineering a small, safety-critical kinetic munition delivered by a First-Person View (FPV) class airframe. The computational backbone relies on a highly sophisticated electromechanical safe and arm device (EMSAD).

As a Hardware Engineer, you will completely own the electronics lifecycle. From initial schematics and multilayer PCB layouts through to the final bring-up and qualification, every board in the system will be a direct result of your expertise.

If you thrive in fast-paced environments with weekly hardware iterations and constant hands-on lab prototyping, this is the place to make a massive impact.

What You’ll Do

• Board Architecture: Architect and design the main EMSAD board alongside critical auxiliary boards.
  

• Schematic & PCB Design: Spearhead complex schematic design and advanced multilayer PCB layouts.
  

• Safety Engineering: Define robust hardware safety architectures using redundant interlocks and fail-safe defaults.
  

• Validation & Bench Testing: Build and run bring-up benches and conduct rigorous first-article validation.
  

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with firmware engineers to sync on drivers and precision timing.
  

• Environmental Qualification: Drive comprehensive environmental testing, including thermal, vibration, EMC, ESD, and drop testing.
  

• Production Oversight: Own Bill of Materials (BOM) management, DFM/DFT strategies, and factory tester development.
  

How We Work

We are a tight-knit, collaborative engineering team that values autonomy and ownership. We move fast, build prototypes weekly, and have a lab constantly filled with fresh hardware. We expect our engineers to confidently drive key electrical decisions, document them clearly, and stand behind their designs through rigorous qualification and field validation.

Position & Location Details

• Job Type: Direct-hire, Full-time
  

• Experience Level: Mid-Senior level
  

• Travel/Training Requirement: Must be comfortable completing an initial 1-month onsite training period in Kearneysville, WV.
  

• Work Location: Following the initial training month, this role is permanently Onsite out of your choice of San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, or Washington, DC.
  

• Sponsorship & Relocation: Visa sponsorship and relocation assistance are not available for this role.
  

What You Bring (Required)

• Experience: 5+ years of dedicated professional electronics design experience.
  

• Technical Depth: Strong foundational knowledge of low-power MCUs, mixed-signal systems, power supplies, sensors, and RF-adjacent layouts.
  

• Design Tools: High proficiency with leading PCB layout tools (e.g., Altium, KiCad, or Cadence).
  

• Lab Expertise: Hands-on lab debugging skills utilizing oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, DMMs, and precision soldering tools.
  

• Problem Solving: Proven track record of troubleshooting complex hardware anomalies, including EMC issues and brown-out edge cases.
  

• Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
  

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
  

Nice to Have

• Prior experience with safety-critical or fail-safe hardware design.
  

• Familiarity or direct background with Safe & Arm (S&A) or fuzing electronics.
  

• Familiarity with military standard testing environments (MIL-STD-810 / MIL-STD-461).
  

• Hands-on experience with FPV or small-UAV electronics.
  

• Knowledge of DFT (Design for Test) for high-mix, low-volume manufacturing environments.