Applied Intuition
Hardware Systems Lead, Drone
$200K–$270K
Sunnyvale · On-site · Full-time · Posted Oct 16, 2026
- Experience
- 10+ years of hands-on hardware engineering experience on drones, UAS, or other aircraft.
- Education
- BS/MS in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or a related field.
- Visa sponsorship
- US Citizen or US Green Card holder.
About the job
Leads the end-to-end mechanical and electrical hardware design, integration, testing, and reliability of drone platforms.
What you'll do
- Own drone hardware architecture and hands-on prototyping, integration, debugging, and testing.
- Define survivability and SWaP tradeoffs; lead environmental, durability, and flight testing and resolve failures.
- Set hardware requirements and engineering standards, lead design reviews, mentor engineers, and support flight operations.
What they ask for
- 10+ years of hands-on hardware engineering experience on drones, UAS, or other aircraft.
- BS/MS in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or a related field.
- Experience designing hardware for demanding environments, including vibration, shock, ingress protection, thermal management, and EMI/EMC.
- Hands-on experience integrating airborne hardware and sensors, conducting flight tests, and diagnosing failures.
Nice to have
- Experience with fixed-wing, multirotor, or VTOL platforms.
- Familiarity with DO-160, MIL-STD-810, or MIL-STD-461.
Pay
$200K – $270K USD base salary
Tools
cameras, lidar, radar, GNSS/IMU, HALT, DO-160, MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative