Applied Intuition
Head of Drone Hardware
$270K–$355K
Sunnyvale · On-site · Director · Full-time · Posted Oct 16, 2026
- Experience
- 15+ years in hardware engineering; 10+ years leading and scaling engineering teams or departments.
- Education
- BS, MS, or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design, or a related technical field.
About the job
Leads the engineering organization, technical strategy, and product lifecycle for drone hardware, from initial design through flight testing and high-volume production.
What you'll do
- Build and lead a multidisciplinary hardware engineering organization and scale its processes.
- Own drone hardware roadmaps and architecture, driving designs from concept through production and improving reliability and manufacturability.
- Partner with customers and cross-functional teams to meet technical requirements and delivery commitments.
What they ask for
- BS, MS, or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design, or a related technical field.
- 15+ years of hardware engineering experience, including 10+ years leading and scaling engineering teams or departments.
- Hands-on mechanical engineering and product design experience for ruggedized systems, including structural design, enclosure design, thermal management, and environmental protection.
- Experience taking hardware from concept through high-volume production, with DFM/DFA expertise, and in test and validation methods including environmental stress screening and field or flight testing.
Nice to have
- Electrical engineering background, including PCB design, schematic capture, and power distribution; or aerospace engineering knowledge of aerodynamics, stability, and propulsion integration.
- Leadership in drones, space, UAS, or similar complex hardware; experience with defense programs or major enterprise customers.
Pay
$270K – $355K USD base salary
Tools
PCB design, schematic capture, power distribution systems, Design for Manufacturing (DFM/DFA)
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative