Lead R&D Engineer — Hardware

Lead R&D Engineer — Hardware                                Engineering | On-site | 6–10 Years ExperienceAbout the CompanyThe Company develops advanced autonomous aerial and robotic systems for commercial and industrial applications, designed to operate reliably in complex, communication-constrained environments. The Company is executing multiple funded R&D programmes focused on mission-driven innovation and proprietary technology development.Position OverviewWe are seeking a Lead R&D Engineer — Hardware to take ownership of the onboard hardware architecture and engineering across our autonomous systems portfolio. This is the senior of two hardware engineering positions. The role will lead the hardware function and provide technical direction and mentorship to the postgraduate research engineers reporting into this position.The successful candidate will be responsible for translating operational requirements into reliable, field-ready hardware solutions, from architecture and component selection through board design, integration, qualification and flight validation.Platforms and SystemsThe role covers hardware development and integration across the Company’s portfolio of autonomous platforms and modules, including a retrofit navigation module designed to integrate with an existing vehicle through a single power connection and serial interface, without structural modification or changes to the host controller firmware. The role also covers associated detection and sensing systems.One representative engineering envelope within this portfolio is a compact, self-contained retrofit module operating within a modest power budget, at low-to-medium operating altitudes, across a wide environmental temperature range, and communicating with the host system over a single serial interface. Key Responsibilities1. Companion Computer and Onboard Computing·        Lead companion-computer selection, hardware bring-up, integration and platform qualification.·        Support real-time onboard perception, navigation and autonomy workloads.·        Own thermal and power management, secure boot, watchdogs, brown-out protection & signed configurations.·        Define onboard logging, health monitoring and flight-recording architecture.2. Sensor Architecture and Integration·        Lead integration of cameras, IMU, barometer, and other navigation-relevant sensors.·        Evaluate sensor performance across altitude, lighting, vibration and operational conditions.·        Manage camera intrinsics and extrinsics, frame timing, sensor calibration and camera-to-IMU synchronisation.      Establish repeatable calibration and validation procedures for navigation-critical sensors.3. Firmware, Interfaces and System Behaviour·        Define and validate serial interfaces with the flight controller without modifying its firmware.·        Work extensively with UART, SPI, I²C and CAN interfaces and ensure deterministic system timing.·        Define and test system behaviour under sensor failure, stale data, compute overload and communication-link loss.·        Collaborate closely with firmware and software teams to ensure reliable hardware-software integration.4. Hardware Abstraction and Platform Portability•      Own hardware abstraction for software deployment across different airframes.•      Maintain a published hardware compatibility matrix and associated integration requirements.•      Lead flight validation across multiple aircraft platforms and establish evidence of compatibility and reliability.5. Board Design, Power and Airframe Integration•      Lead the development of carrier boards, power-distribution boards, sensor breakout boards and interface boards.•      Own schematic capture, PCB design, design-for-manufacturing considerations and hardware bring-up.•      Oversee airframe integration, including propulsion, power, antennas, payloads, and vibration isolation.•      Develop ruggedised enclosures suitable for field deployment and demanding environmental conditions. 6. Testing, Qualification and Flight Validation•      Establish structured test & qualification processes covering bench testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing & flight testing.•      Define acceptance criteria, test plans, instrumentation requirements & objective evidence for system qualification.•      Lead the execution and documentation of flight-testing programmes across autonomy and navigation modules, against defined minimum flight-hour targets per test category in the current work plan.•      Participate directly in range activities, analyse failures, identify root causes, implement corrective actions and conduct repeat validation.7. Team Leadership and Engineering Development•      Build, lead & develop the hardware engineering function, including engineers, drone technicians & test personnel.•      Provide technical leadership, task prioritisation and engineering review across hardware projects.•      Mentor postgraduate (M.Tech. and Ph.D.) engineers and develop them into independently capable engineers who can safely and reliably work with operational airframes.•      Establish practical engineering processes, documentation standards and review mechanisms as the company scales. Required Qualifications and Experience•      6–10 years of professional experience in embedded hardware, robotics, autonomous vehicles or a closely related engineering domain.•      Demonstrated experience taking a product from concept through development, integration and deployment as a functional field-ready unit. Candidates should identify a specific product or system they have delivered.•      Strong proficiency in C and C++ on embedded targets, with practical experience in Embedded Linux, RTOS and ARM-based systems.•      Hands-on expertise in schematic capture, PCB layout, design-for-manufacturing (DFM), board bring-up and hardware debugging.•      Strong experience in sensor integration and calibration, including camera and IMU timing, synchronisation and their impact on navigation accuracy.•      Practical experience with PX4 or ArduPilot, MAVLink and companion-computer integration on an autonomous vehicle platform.•      Strong field-test discipline, including preparation of test plans, instrumentation, failure logging, root-cause analysis, corrective action and repeat testing.•      Previous experience leading engineers or demonstrated readiness to assume technical leadership responsibility. Desirable Experience•      Environmental and EMI/EMC qualification experience, including MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461 or equivalent ruggedisation standards.•      Experience with regulatory or safety-qualification processes for autonomous or robotic systems.•      Experience in terrain-referenced navigation, visual-inertial odometry or GNSS-denied navigation systems.•      Experience with detection and tracking systems, radar or EO/IR sensor integration.•      Experience deploying embedded machine-learning models under strict latency, power and thermal constraints.•      Experience with technology-transfer or localisation of manufacturing and development programmes. Why Join the Company?Many hardware engineering roles in this industry operate downstream of established specifications and legacy programmes. At the Company, the engineering team works much closer to the operational problem. The customer defines the mission requirement, our team develops the technology, validates it in realistic conditions and retains ownership of the resulting intellectual property.This role provides the opportunity to influence fundamental hardware decisions across the platform rather than simply integrate an externally developed OEM subsystem. You will have direct ownership of architecture, component selection, board design, integration, qualification and field validation. The Working EnvironmentThe Company is an early-stage engineering organisation. The hardware function is still being built, and the person appointed to this role will be expected to establish processes, standards and engineering discipline rather than inherit a mature hardware organisation.The role involves regular field-test activities. Working schedules may be demanding during funded programme milestones, qualification activities and test campaigns. This position is best suited to an engineer who enjoys ownership, hands-on problem solving, technical leadership and building systems from the ground up.Role SummaryIf you are an experienced hardware engineer who has delivered real autonomous or embedded systems, understands the interaction between electronics, firmware, sensors and vehicle platforms, and is ready to lead a growing R&D hardware team, this role offers an opportunity to take end-to-end ownership of mission-critical technology.