Hardware Engineer

Sine Engineering • Bozeman, MT

1d

About The Position

Sine Engineering is seeking an experienced Hardware Engineer to design, integrate, test, and troubleshoot electronic and RF systems for UAV communication, navigation, and autonomy applications. The role spans the hardware development lifecycle, including evaluating components, developing prototypes, integrating third-party systems, and supporting products in the field. The engineer will work with engineering, product, and sales teams to deliver reliable hardware for autonomous systems.

Requirements

• Solid foundation in RF theory and hardware fundamentals, including propagation, link performance, antenna behavior, interference, polarization, and signal paths.
• Working knowledge of PCB and circuit design principles and ability to contribute to new designs or modifications of existing hardware.
• Familiarity with PCB design tools such as Altium, KiCad, or similar.
• Practical experience applying DFT, DFM, and EMC/EMI considerations in circuit or PCB design.
• Experience with digital and analog circuit design, power electronics, microcontrollers, and embedded systems.
• Familiarity with UAS communication protocols such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, and MAVLink.
• Practical experience with RF and electronic test equipment, including multimeters, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, logic analyzers, and power meters.
• Ability to read and interpret schematics, datasheets, and technical specifications for internal and third-party hardware.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to evaluate hardware designs, identify tradeoffs, and propose practical improvements.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to produce clear design notes, test procedures, technical evaluations, and prototype documentation.
• Comfort working hands-on with hardware in a lab or bench environment, including prototyping and rework.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, product, and sales teams.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with UAV, robotics, or embedded-systems hardware, including flight controllers, video transmission systems, or ground-control interfaces.
• Familiarity with open-source flight controllers and firmware, such as PX4 and ArduPilot, and their configuration and tuning ecosystems.
• Experience integrating companion computers or onboard compute platforms.
• General understanding of defense, security, public safety, or government technology environments.

Responsibilities

• Identify and design new hardware concepts or modifications to existing products in response to emerging use cases and customer needs.
• Perform design verification and troubleshoot digital and analog electronic circuits.
• Support the design of subsystems and PCBAs, incorporating design-for-test (DFT), design-for-manufacturing (DFM), EMC/EMI, signal integrity, and grounding best practices.
• Conduct trade studies to evaluate components, technologies, and approaches for potential use in future designs.
• Evaluate RF performance and system compatibility across antennas, radios, and payloads.
• Perform integration testing of new hardware and document test results.
• Support complex or non-standard integrations involving third-party hardware and software, including payloads, sensors, SDKs, and APIs.
• Troubleshoot hardware, firmware, and system interaction issues by analyzing logs and telemetry and conducting root-cause analysis.
• Stay informed about RF technologies, UAV communication systems, and industry trends to inform design and product direction.

Benefits

• 15 days of paid vacation annually.
• 5 personal or sick days per year.
• Leave accrues on a pro-rata basis from the start date.
• Eligibility to participate in standard company health, dental, and 401(k) benefit plans, subject to plan terms and eligibility requirements.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed