Senior / Staff Electrical Engineer, Autonomous Vehicles

AeroVect•South San Francisco, CA

5d•$144,000 - $200,000

About The Position

AeroVect is transforming ground handling with autonomy, redefining how airlines and ground service providers around the globe run day-to-day operations. We are a Series A company backed by top-tier venture capital investors in aviation and autonomous driving. Our customers include some of the world’s largest airlines and ground handling providers. We are looking for a Senior or Staff Electrical Engineer to own the electrical architecture and vehicle integration systems that power our autonomous tractor platform. Our vehicles are complex electromechanical systems — integrating high-voltage traction systems, custom power distribution, vehicle control networks, embedded computing hardware and a full suite of autonomy sensors. As our electrical engineering lead, you will define the architecture that holds it all together: designing and owning the vehicle harness systems and electrical schematics, driving fault analysis and root cause investigations on live fleet issues and setting the electrical standards that our field and integration teams build against. This role sits at the intersection of vehicle engineering, autonomy hardware and production — you will work closely with the mechanical, software and field teams and will have direct influence over what goes into the next generation of the platform. It is the right fit for an engineer who wants deep ownership, is energized by the challenge of fielding hardware in a demanding operational environment and is ready to operate at the scope of a Staff contributor even if the title is Senior.

Requirements

5+ years of electrical engineering experience in a hardware-centric domain such as automotive, autonomous vehicles, robotics, aerospace or industrial equipment.
Deep expertise in vehicle electrical systems — including harness and connector design, power distribution, CAN bus and other vehicle networking protocols and grounding and EMC practices.
Demonstrated ability to read, create and own complex electrical schematics and wiring diagrams as a primary design deliverable.
Strong background in electrical fault analysis and root cause investigation, with experience translating field failure data into actionable design improvements.
Experience designing for reliability and serviceability in harsh operational environments — vibration, thermal cycling, moisture and contamination.
Comfort working across the full product lifecycle — from architecture and design through bring-up, field deployment and sustaining engineering.
Ability to operate independently, set technical direction and drive decisions across cross-functional teams without requiring a large team structure underneath you.

Nice To Haves

Experience with autonomous vehicle or mobile robot electrical systems, including multi-sensor integration and embedded computing hardware.
Familiarity with high-voltage vehicle architectures and the specific design requirements they introduce for safety and isolation.
Experience working directly with harness fabrication vendors and contract manufacturers to specify and qualify electrical assemblies.
Background in defining and executing electrical validation and verification programs, including bring-up procedures and acceptance test criteria.
Exposure to relevant standards in vehicle electrical engineering or safety-critical system design.
Experience at an early-stage company where you have had to build electrical engineering infrastructure and design standards from scratch.

Responsibilities

Own the electrical architecture of the autonomous tractor platform end-to-end — including vehicle harness design, power distribution schematics, CAN bus topology, sensor integration wiring and grounding and shielding strategies.
Design, review and maintain the vehicle wiring diagrams and electrical schematics that serve as the authoritative reference for build, integration and field servicing teams.
Lead root cause analysis on electrical faults and system-level failures across the deployed fleet, including power distribution anomalies, control network faults, sensor failures and connector and harness degradation in harsh operational environments.
Define and drive corrective actions from field failure analysis — working with the hardware team to translate findings into design improvements, updated build standards and fleet retrofit plans.
Own the electrical bring-up and validation process for new vehicle platforms and major upfits, including defining acceptance criteria, commissioning procedures and electrical verification checklists.
Work with external harness manufacturers and integration partners to define build specifications, review fabricated assemblies and qualify workmanship standards.
Drive the selection, integration and qualification of electrical and electronic components — including connectors, power electronics, vehicle controllers, embedded compute and communication hardware — with a focus on reliability and field serviceability.
Establish and maintain electrical design standards, labeling conventions and documentation practices that support both internal engineers and external field technicians.
Partner with the software and autonomy teams to support hardware bring-up, sensor calibration and the debugging of issues at the hardware-software boundary.
Contribute to the electrical architecture of next-generation vehicle platforms, including higher-voltage systems and advanced compute integration, from early concept through production release.