Electrical Engineer (Launcher)

Harmattan AI is seeking a senior hardware engineer to own the electronics design of field-deployable drone launchers end-to-end. The role involves designing complex PCBs that integrate power conversion, energy management, and control interfaces, optimized for cost at volume. You will lead schematic design, PCB layout, power and thermal architecture, and hardware bring-up, while collaborating with embedded software and mechanical teams to ensure seamless integration. The goal is to accelerate the path to production milestones for these autonomous defense systems.

Responsibilities

• Schematic Design - Design complete schematics for mixed-signal and power boards, from power stages to digital and communication sections.
• PCB Layout & Routing - Perform or lead board placement and routing with attention to signal integrity, EMC, and power-path constraints.
• Power & Thermal Architecture - Define and validate the power architecture of the product and the thermal strategy, including battery temperature management.
• Environmental Robustness - Ensure the electronics withstand outdoor deployment conditions and define the associated qualification plan.
• Component Selection & BOM Optimization - 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, debug issues with oscilloscopes, power bench equipment, and other bench equipment; write bring-up scripts when needed.
• EMC & Safety Compliance - Address EMC challenges; ensure signal integrity across the board and electrical safety of the power and battery sections.
• 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, sealing, 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)
• Power electronics design: ~300 W DC/DC conversion, protection, derating, efficiency and thermal budgets
• Thermal regulation: temperature sensing and control loops, battery storage temperature management, heatsinking
• Power over Ethernet (IEEE 802.3af/at/bt): combined power and data delivery, isolation, cable budgets
• Mixed-signal design: power management, MCU interfaces, communication buses (SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN, Ethernet)
• Hardware bring-up and debug: bench equipment proficiency
• DFM/DFA for PCB manufacturing and assembly
• Component selection and BOM management

Nice to have

• Experience in lightning and surge protection is a plus