Principal Electrical Engineer

Neon Aerospace•Irvine, CA

About The Position

Neon Aero is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer to provide technical leadership for the architecture, design, and qualification of high-integrity electronic control systems across its product portfolio. The role focuses on controller and system electronics, including command/monitor architecture, flight control computers and line-replaceable units (LRUs), embedded compute, sensing, communications, fault detection, redundancy, and electrical interfaces. It complements a separate role responsible for high-voltage motor-drive and power-stage design. This is a deeply hands-on individual-contributor position. The engineer will develop system architectures, block diagrams, schematics, interface definitions, safety concepts, and supporting analyses, and work across embedded software, motor control, systems, mechanical, power electronics, test, manufacturing, and certification teams to take high-reliability electronic systems from concept through qualification and production. The position does not require direct people management, but calls for principal-level technical leadership, mentoring, and ownership of difficult cross-functional decisions. The engineer will own electrical system architecture for controller electronics and related embedded hardware; define redundancy, partitioning, interfaces, safety and verification approaches; select components; design and review embedded digital, analog, and mixed-signal electronics; and establish fault-management, communications, grounding, shielding, isolation, EMI/EMC, signal-integrity, and power-integrity approaches. The role also leads schematic development and PCB design reviews, analysis, board bring-up, integration, debugging, qualification support, certification-oriented development, manufacturing readiness, and mentoring of electrical engineers. Neon Aero describes itself as combining start-up agility with aerospace expertise and using automation, AI-driven tools, and a connected digital backbone to accelerate aircraft innovation and production. The company offers competitive compensation, equity participation, growth opportunities, and health, vision, dental, and 401(k) benefits. The stated compensation range is $210,000–$325,000 USD; final compensation depends on role scope, experience, skills, internal equity, and location. The role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, and benefits, if applicable. Final candidates must complete a background check and drug screening. Neon Aero is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to an inclusive environment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field; equivalent professional experience may be considered.
12+ years of experience developing and shipping complex electronic systems.
Demonstrated ownership of system-level electrical architecture for embedded control, avionics, industrial control, automotive, robotics, medical, aerospace, or similarly high-reliability products.
Deep hands-on experience with embedded digital and mixed-signal hardware, including microcontroller-based systems, sensing, communications, and board-level power architecture.
Strong proficiency with schematic capture and PCB design using Altium or equivalent ECAD tools.
Strong understanding of processor selection, watchdog and reset architecture, communication interfaces, sensor interfacing, low-voltage power conversion, grounding, isolation, and EMI/EMC.
Experience designing fault-tolerant or redundant electronic architectures and reasoning about failure detection, fault containment, and safe-state behavior.
Experience taking electronic assemblies from concept through prototype, qualification, industrialization, and production.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional technical decisions involving electrical hardware, embedded software, systems engineering, mechanical design, test, manufacturing, and suppliers.
Strong lab and debugging capability using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, programmable supplies, electronic loads, data acquisition, and related instrumentation.

Nice To Haves

Command/monitor or other redundant safety-critical controller architecture experience.
Experience with flight control computers, actuator controllers, avionics LRUs, embedded compute platforms, sensor interfaces, or vehicle-control electronics.
DO-254 hardware development experience and familiarity with DAL-driven hardware architecture and verification.
Familiarity with DO-160, ARP4754A/B, ARP4761, MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-704, or comparable safety-critical and environmental standards.
Experience with CAN/CAN FD, ARINC 825, ARINC 429, Ethernet, RS-422/485, SPI, BiSS, resolver/LVDT interfaces, or similar sensing and communication technologies.
Experience with safety-oriented or aviation-pedigree microcontrollers and processors.
FPGA or programmable-logic experience for monitoring, I/O, timing, or safety functions.
MATLAB, Python, SPICE, or similar tools for analysis, test automation, or data reduction.
Experience in aerospace, automotive, robotics, consumer hardware, industrial controls, medical devices, or other environments where electronics must be high-performance and production-ready.

Responsibilities

Own electrical system architecture for high-integrity controller electronics, FCCs, LRUs, actuator controllers, avionics and compute platforms, sensing systems, and related embedded hardware.
Architect command/monitor, active-active, simplex, duplex, or other redundant control architectures according to system safety, integrity, availability, and cost requirements.
Define partitioning among command processors, monitoring processors, motor-control electronics, power electronics, sensors, communications, and vehicle-level interfaces.
Translate system requirements and safety objectives into electronic architectures, hardware requirements, interface definitions, and verification strategies.
Select microcontrollers, processors, FPGAs, memories, communication devices, supervisors, watchdogs, isolation components, and sensor interfaces for high-reliability applications.
Design and review embedded digital, analog, and mixed-signal electronics, including low-voltage power supplies, power sequencing, reset architecture, discrete I/O, signal conditioning, protection, and health monitoring.
Architect fault detection, fault containment, redundancy management, cross-monitoring, heartbeat, synchronization, and safe-state mechanisms.
Define communication architecture and physical layers for embedded and aerospace interfaces and buses.
Own electrical interface definitions and collaborate with systems and software teams on ICDs, timing assumptions, diagnostic coverage, degraded modes, and hardware/software partitioning.
Establish grounding, shielding, isolation, EMI/EMC, signal-integrity, and power-integrity approaches across boards, harnesses, sensors, and enclosures.
Lead schematic development and critical PCB design reviews using Altium or equivalent ECAD tools.
Perform or direct worst-case circuit, tolerance, derating, signal-integrity, power-budget, and fault analyses.
Lead board bring-up, system integration, lab debugging, and root-cause investigations involving hardware, firmware, software, sensors, communications, and power electronics.
Define hardware verification strategies and support qualification testing for environmental, EMC, electrical power, and fault conditions.
Support certification-oriented development, including requirements traceability, design assurance, configuration control, verification evidence, and hardware change management.
Drive DFM, DFT, DFA, production test strategy, and manufacturing readiness for controller electronics and LRUs.
Mentor electrical engineers through architecture and schematic reviews, design analysis, bring-up, and debugging while remaining hands-on.
Lead cross-functional technical decisions involving electrical hardware, embedded software, systems engineering, mechanical design, test, manufacturing, and suppliers.