Navi — Founding Hardware Engineer
$150,000–$200,000 year
On-siteSan Francisco, California, United States
Job Summary
Own the full PCB lifecycle from architecture and component selection to iterative builds toward a fleet-ready cockpit device. Make build-vs-outsource decisions weighing cost, compute, and thermal constraints while leading sourcing and procurement across the supply chain. Plan and run environmental testing against heat, vibration, and RF-noise conditions in live aircraft, then develop and own embedded firmware and edge processing logic. Partner with the software team to ensure the hardware captures data for the analytics layer, managing OTA updates and edge-to-cloud streaming. This founding hardware role requires roughly five years of hands-on experience, on-site work in San Francisco, and intense startup hours. You will work directly with the CTO to reason through a six-month roadmap in real time, taking a complex connected device from a 3D-printed prototype to deployment with collegiate flight-training programs and a U.S. military customer.
Required Qualifications
- Roughly 5+ years of hands-on hardware or embedded systems engineering, with a track record of taking a complex connected device to market
- Able to design and lay out a PCB independently — schematic design, component selection, and board bring-up
- Solid electronics-design foundation across microcontrollers and wireless communication modules
- Strong embedded C/C++ or Python for edge applications, with RTOS or embedded Linux experience
- Comfortable with component sourcing and procurement, and the downstream trade-offs those choices create
- Familiar with edge-to-cloud architecture, device fleet management, and live data infrastructure
- Hands-on with hardware certification and environmental / regulatory testing for demanding operating conditions
- A startup or otherwise lean background where you personally owned hardware decisions end to end
- Able to walk fluently through a multi-month hardware plan and justify architectural trade-offs on the spot
- Willing to work in person in San Francisco and keep intense startup hours
Desired Qualifications
- Edge processing and lossless streaming of high-bandwidth data, including real-time audio and signal processing
- Background building hardware for aviation, defense, or other safety-critical regulated industries
- Familiarity with avionics data formats, cockpit audio systems, or aircraft electrical environments
- Prior sensor-device or connected-hardware work in a startup setting
- Experience navigating environmental and regulatory testing programs
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