Principal Hardware Engineer

WHO WE ARE Aurelius is the autonomous directed energy company. We are a group of engineers, operators, and company patriots building American-made, laser-based, counter-UAS defense systems that neutralize aerial threats. We're a small team that designs in San Francisco, manufactures in Detroit, and field tests Archimedes, our fiber-laser counter-UAS system, weekly on our own 400-acre private range. ABOUT THE TEAM You'll own hardware architecture across Archimedes and take subsystems from working prototype to hardware that ships and survives in the field. This is a senior IC seat, not a people-manager job. You've done the full cycle more than once, you know where systems break and where teams get stuck, and you still like doing the hardest part yourself. Weekly range time and a Detroit manufacturing hub mean your decisions show up in metal, not just in a review deck. As a Principal Hardware Engineer you will set the system-level hardware architecture, close the hardest design and manufacturing trades, and stand up the release path with Detroit. You'll work daily with electrical, power, embedded, optics, and manufacturing, and stay close enough to the bench and the floor to catch what the model misses. MUST-HAVES - Track record taking complex hardware the full cycle from prototype through manufacturing and field deployment, more than once - Deep mechanical expertise plus real judgment in at least one of electrical, power electronics, or embedded - Comfort being the technical anchor on a small team, still hands-on, not the manager of a large org - Evidence of systems that had to survive real-world shock, vibration, and environmental conditions - U.S. citizenship (required for export control). WHAT YOU'LL OWN Priority deliverables in the first 6 months: - A system-level hardware architecture and integration plan across mechanical, electrical, power, embedded, and optics - The hardest open design trades closed, with documented decisions on cost, mass, reliability, and field performance - A hardware release and production process standing up with the Detroit manufacturing hub - Design review and documentation standards the rest of the hardware team can run against - Hands-on debug and characterization of the current system so field failures get fixed at the root, not patched NICE TO HAVES It would help if… - Directed energy, laser, or high-power systems experience - Defense or aerospace program experience with MIL-STD or equivalent environmental qualification - You've stood up a production line, or worked tightly with the manufacturers who did - Active security clearance or ability to obtain one. NOT A FIT IF - You're a people manager without recent hands-on hardware work - Your experience is simulation only, limited to one narrow subcomponent, or purely consumer products - You need remote or hybrid work HOW WE WORK At Aurelius we work what we call, 5+X. Our core operating hours are 5 days a week, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm Pacific Time. The X is the honest acknowledgment that hard work sometimes takes more. For engineering, that means late nights and weekends during sprints and ramp-up periods. For growth, ops, and support, it means conferences, deployments, and events when the mission calls for it. This role is onsite 5 days a week in San Francisco. BENEFITS At Aurelius Systems, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package is available at little to no cost to employees and supports health, recovery, and whatever comes next. Explore Our Benefits https://www.aureliussystems.com/careers#:~:text=Explore%20Our%20Benefits. EXPORT CONTROL NOTICE This role requires access to export-controlled information or items and requires U.S. citizenship. APPLY Email our Head of Talent, alfredo@aureliussystems.us with your resume, GitHub, or a link to the most extraordinary thing you've built or done.