Hardware Systems Lead, Drone
Hands-on chief engineer leading end-to-end hardware (mechanical + electrical) architecture for Applied Intuition's drone program: prototyping, integrating sensors/compute/avionics/power onto airframes, and driving SWaP tradeoffs, environmental survivability (vibration, thermal, EMI/EMC), and reliability/flight testing.
- Compensation
- $200K–$270K / yr
- Location
- Sunnyvale
- Work setup
- Onsite
- Seniority
- Lead
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 10+ years
- Category
- Hardware
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- BS/MS in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or related field
- 10+ years hands-on hardware engineering experience on drones, UAS, or other aircraft
- Command of the full hardware system: airframe/structures, electrical architecture, power distribution, harness design, avionics
- Track record designing hardware for demanding environments: vibration, shock, ingress protection, thermal management, EMI/EMC
- Hands-on lab and field experience: building prototypes, wiring/debugging, running flight tests, diagnosing failures and crashes
- Experience integrating sensors (cameras, lidar, radar, GNSS/IMU), compute, and flight control hardware onto airborne platforms
- Experience with SWaP optimization and lightweight design, including composites and carbon fiber
- Experience with reliability and qualification testing (environmental testing, HALT, flight-hour tracking)
- Systems-level thinking; able to make and defend architecture decisions
- Experience designing for manufacturability and field serviceability
Nice to have
- Experience with fixed-wing, multirotor, or VTOL platforms
- Familiarity with aerospace standards such as DO-160, MIL-STD-810, and MIL-STD-461
- Experience with propulsion, battery, or power system integration
Full description
Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at .
We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions
ABOUT THE ROLE
As Hardware Systems Lead for our drone program, you will be the hands-on chief engineer for the hardware that carries our autonomy into the air. You will understand the full system, mechanical and electrical, and own the question that matters most in flight: will it survive, and will it keep working when the aircraft is hundreds of feet up? You will architect, build, test, and break hardware, then use what you learn to make it lighter, tougher, and more reliable. Your decisions will define how Applied's hardware performs in flight, in wind, vibration, shock, temperature swings, and moisture, and you will work closely with autonomy, software, and flight test teams to get aircraft flying.
At Applied Intuition, you will:
- Own the end-to-end hardware architecture, mechanical and electrical, for Applied Intuition’s drone platforms
- Be hands-on: prototype, build, integrate, debug, and test hardware on real aircraft, not just review designs
- Define and drive survivability: determine how sensors, compute, avionics, harnesses, connectors, and enclosures will hold up to vibration, shock, hard landings, thermal extremes, dust, water ingress, and EMI
- Lead integration of sensors (cameras, lidar, radar, GNSS/IMU), compute, power systems, communications, and flight controllers onto airframes
- Own size, weight, and power (SWaP) tradeoffs, balancing performance, flight time, payload capacity, and cost
- Define hardware requirements and reference architectures that scale across aircraft configurations