Electrical Engineer

Job Description

Job Title: Electrical Engineer

Focus;

* Drive By Wire

*
* Carrier Board (FPGA, facing cameras)

*

* Digital Electronics, Domain Controller (Compute Box)

Headcount: 7

YoE: 5 yrs

Location / Travel: San Francisco, CA

Team/Department: Electrical / Hardware \[Transport\]

Reporting to: Tom Mulroy,

Reason for hiring: Needs to build our own electronics to power the software that runs and drives the car

Offer Visa Sponsorship: Yes

Selling:

* All products you design will be installed on the first fleet of vehicles deployed in the real world for testing, at a high volume before end of the year.

Immediate Projects:

Drive By Wire

* Designing components on Squid board (PCB circuit board), vehicle DBW interface

* Steering interface board, same idea as above

* Power distribution systems (power system design)

Carrier Board, Compute

* New Generation Compute System

Responsibilities:
Drive By Wire
Vehicle Interface \& Controls
- Analyze and document CAN bus, J1939, Analog and direct digital signals, direct signaling, and vehicle-specific communication protocols on heavy equipment
- Create comprehensive technical documentation for electrical interfaces and vehicle control systems
- Document electrical schematics, pinouts, and signal specifications for integration points

Drive-by-Wire System Development
- Design and implement custom circuit boards for electronic and actuator-based vehicle operation
- Implement fail-safe mechanisms and redundant control pathways for safety-critical systems
- Work with cross-team engineers to design custom wiring harnesses and connector solutions for harsh industrial environments

General

Advanced PCB Design

- Design multi-layer motherboards for compute units handling real-time control systems
- Implement high-speed differential signaling for camera interfaces, GNSS, and LiDAR signaling
- Design mixed-signal circuits combining power electronics with sensitive sensor processing
- Adhere to high standards for signal robustness and DFA

Hardware Testing \& Documentation
- Document testing requirements for environmental durability and system reliability of hardware components
- Design and build hardware test apparatus for validation and troubleshooting
- Support quality assurance processes and technical documentation standards

Integration \& Deployment Support
- Support field installations and troubleshoot hardware issues at customer sites
- Work closely with software and mechanical teams to optimize system integration
- Collaborate with team members to develop tight system interfaces in a rapid iteration environment

Tools/Technologies/Tech Stack:

*

Must Have:

* Designing circuit boards

* Schematic Design and Layout

* ECAD, Schematic capture and layout

* KiCAD (we use)

* Common Electrical Tools (multi multimeter, Oscilloscope)

Nice to Have:

* Radar, LiDAR, Sensors, Camera Interfaces

* DFM (Design for Manufacturing)

* Testing \& QA

Ideal Background: Automotive or vehicle systems (including drones)

Ideal Education: Electrical Engineering

Individual roadmap:

Growth potential:

Companies to Target:

* Tesla

* SpaceX

* Humanoid potentially

* Zoox, Cruise, Waymo, Nuro etc

* Zipline, Skydio

* Defense startups

* NO Defense conglomerates like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, etc. (avoid in general - tend to be slow and process driven)

Have you hired for this kind of role in the past?  
- Challenges?  
- What's worked, what hasn't?  
- What did you like, what should we stay away from?

Any technical qualification questions with black \& white answers the recruiter can use to vet?

* Q: Have you designed a PCB? What did it do? Was it for work or a hobby? What ECAD software did you use?

* A: they must have designed a PCB, ideally for work. If it's for a hobby, ask them to explain \& take notes on what it did.

### Rippling Posting - DBW EE