Electrical Engineer (Ground Control System)

Harmattan AI is seeking a senior hardware engineer to own the electronics design of new ground control system (GCS) products, including ruggedised drone controllers and long-range RF systems. The role involves end-to-end design of complex PCBs integrating RF modules, microcontrollers, power management, and communication interfaces, with a focus on cost and manufacturability at volume. The engineer will lead schematic design, PCB layout, bring-up, and debug, and collaborate closely with embedded software and mechanical teams to ensure seamless integration and production ramp-up.

Responsibilities

• Schematic Design - Design complete schematics for mixed-signal and RF boards, from power to digital and RF sections.
• PCB Layout & Routing - Perform or lead board placement and routing with attention to signal integrity, EMC, and RF constraints (6-8 layer layout, controlled impedance, ground planes, and RF traces).
• Component Selection & BOM Optimisation – Select components with cost, availability, and reliability in mind; drive BOM cost reduction for mass production volumes.
• Hardware Bring-up & Debug - Lead board bring-up and debug issues with oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers, and other bench equipment; write bring-up scripts when needed.
• EMC & RF Compliance - Address EMC challenges; ensure signal integrity across the board and correct RF performance (antenna impedance matching and power levels).
• Collaboration with Embedded SW - Work closely with the embedded software engineer to define hardware/software interfaces; support firmware bring-up.
• Collaboration with Mechanical - Ensure seamless PCB integration into mechanical enclosures (connectors, mounting, thermal, shielding).
• Supplier & Manufacturing Ramp-up - Qualify PCB manufacturers and assembly houses; support DFM/DFA review for production; manage NPI transitions.
• Documentation - Maintain schematics, layout files, test procedures, and hardware specifications.

Requirements

• PCB schematic and layout design (Altium Designer preferred)
• RF PCB design: controlled impedance, antenna matching, EMC management
• Mixed-signal design: power management, MCU interfaces, communication buses (SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN)
• Hardware bring-up and debug: bench equipment proficiency
• DFM/DFA for PCB manufacturing and assembly
• Component selection and BOM management