Electrical Engineer (Launcher)

About Us

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.

Overview

Harmattan AI is developing new hardware products within the Launcher module: field-deployable drone launchers designed to be deployed and operated autonomously in demanding field environments. These products require dedicated electronics design with complex architecture in a constrained environment – PCBs integrating power conversion, energy management, control and communication interfaces – optimised for cost at volume. The Launcher team is seeking a dedicated hardware engineer to own electronics design end-to-end and accelerate the path to production milestones.

Ideal candidate

A senior hardware engineer who has designed and shipped complex PCBs, ideally mixing digital and significant power (hundreds of watts), into production. They are rigorous on schematics, layout, and bring-up, and have a strong instinct for cost and manufacturability. They design with real-world operating conditions in mind - temperature, moisture, surges - and an interest in battery thermal management; direct experience of outdoor-deployed equipment is a plus rather than a prerequisite. They are comfortable working autonomously in a small team and can bridge hardware and firmware.

Skills required

• 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
• Experience in lightning and surge protection is a plus

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.