Electrical Engineer, Autonomous Vehicles (Federal)

About the Role

FieldAI is seeking an Electrical Engineer to support system and component level design, integration, and validation for sensing systems on wheeled robotic platforms. This role contributes to the design and implementation of electrical systems enabling power and communications across sense and compute packages, spanning power systems, wire harnesses, PCB design, and communications networks. The goal is to ensure systems are electrically robust, safe, and scalable, with responsibilities covering the full lifecycle from electrical CAD through production to field support.

What You Will Do

1. Electrical System Design

• Power Architecture: Design regulated power systems including voltage rails, DC/DC converters, switches, fuses, and grounding schemes.
• Wire Harness Design: Design and document robust wire harnesses for power and data lines, including shielding, strain relief, and standard connectors.
• PCB Design: Create PCBs for power distribution, protocol bridging, and embedded control.
• Networking & Communication: Architect wired and wireless communication systems (Ethernet, USB, CAN, I2C, WiFi, 5G).
• Budgets & Tolerances: Maintain system-level power and bandwidth budgets. Ensure electrical tolerance to noise, EMI, and vibration.

2. Electrical System Implementation

• CAD & Schematics: Create PCB schematics, harness diagrams, pinouts, and complete PCB BOMs using tools like KiCAD or Altium.
• Calculations: Conduct electrical calculations including current draw, peak power, signal integrity, and fault analysis.
• Design for Field Conditions: Engineer for EMI/EMC robustness, thermal resilience, and fault isolation under field operating conditions.
• Testing: Conduct power validation (noise, load, transients), communication tests (bandwidth, latency), and EMI evaluation.
• Integration: Collaborate with sensor, compute, and mechanical teams for end-to-end system compatibility and robustness.
• Documentation & Budgets: Maintain PCB schematics and systems-level wiring diagrams. Manage system-level power and data bandwidth budgets.

3. Electrical System Production & Servicing

• Build: Work with vendors and contract manufacturers to procure PCBs and harnesses. Develop QA checks for incoming units.
• Debug: Investigate system faults using logs, oscilloscopes, analyzers, and power monitors.
• Support: Provide hands-on support during integration, deployment, and servicing in the field.

What You Have

• Education: B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.
• Power Systems: Experience designing and testing low-voltage regulated power systems.
• Harnessing: Hands-on design and integration of custom wire harnesses for robotics or automotive-style systems.
• PCB Design: Proficiency in PCB schematic and layout using KiCAD, Altium, or equivalent tools.
• Communication Protocols: Familiarity with USB, Ethernet, CAN, I2C, GMSL, and wireless technologies.
• Testing & Debugging: Skills using electrical test tools including oscilloscopes, power analyzers, and EMI/EMC setups.
• Documentation: Ability to produce detailed electrical documentation for design, manufacturing, and servicing.
• Systems Thinking: Experience working across mechanical, compute, and autonomy teams to deliver robust integrated systems.
• Cross Functional Robotic Skills: Ability to contribute electrical, sensing, and embedded computing work to deliver robust integrated systems.

What Will Set You Apart

• Scaling: Experience taking systems from prototype to large scale production.
• Field Environments: Experience developing systems for harsh field environments.
• Deployed Robotics: Experience working on robotics deployed in real world settings such as autonomous vehicles, drones, or ruggedized robots.
• Systems Level Robotics: Fluency across electrical, mechanical, and software systems.
• Reliability Engineering: Background in fault protection, EMI/EMC compliance, and safety-critical design.