Senior Electronics Engineer - Underwater Robotics

Irvine, United States | Posted on 07/14/2026

We're hiring a Senior Electronics Engineer for a small-team underwater robotics manufacturer in Irvine that builds ROVs used by the Navy, oil and gas operators, marine research groups, and commercial dive teams worldwide. This is a hands-on IC seat where you'll own the electronics side of new product development: schematic capture, PCB design, motor drive, battery systems, embedded firmware, sealed enclosures, and sensor integration on hardware that ships to real customers.

If you're at a big company waiting six months for a design review to close, this is the opposite. You'll ship real hardware, fast, on a small team where the person who designs the board also brings it up.

• Own PCB design in Altium (or transition from Cadence, OrCAD, PADS, Mentor, or KiCad; a 3 to 4 week ramp is fine for someone senior)
• Design and validate power electronics: DC power distribution, motor drive for underwater thrusters, battery management, charging and protection circuits
• Write and debug embedded firmware on ARM Cortex M, STM
  32, PSoC, or similar for real-time control
• Design sealed and pressure-rated electronics for underwater operation: conformal coating, enclosure integration, connector selection, waterproofing
• Integrate sensors, comms modules, and control systems into finished product
• Take a board from concept through bring-up, validation, and manufacturing release

• 5 or more years of hands-on electronics design experience on shipping products
• Strong PCB design chops with a professional tool (Altium preferred; adjacent tools OK with willingness to transition)
• Real power electronics or motor drive experience on production hardware
• Embedded firmware fluency at the register level, not just app-layer
• Comfort at a workbench with oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and power supply solving real problems
• Ability to work onsite in Irvine
• Marine, subsea, ROV, AUV, UUV, or underwater electronics background
• Sealed, ruggedized, or IP-rated hardware experience (medical implants, aerospace, defense, EV, industrial automation all count)
• Battery pack design for high-drain applications
• Active DoD clearance (some of our work supports Navy customers)
• Experience owning a product end to end from prototype through production
• Multi-hat, small-team engineering culture experience

• Small team, so you own the hardware end to end instead of being one specialist on a 40-person program
• Real product that ships to global customers today, not a lab prototype or PowerPoint concept
• Hands-on IC track, no forced move into people-management to progress
• Direct line to the product roadmap; if you think a design should change, you talk to the person who decides
• Health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off and company-paid holidays
• Fast decision cycles and short reporting chain

• Onsite in Irvine, CA
• Occasional travel up to 15% for customer sites and sea trials
• Ability to lift up to 50 pounds when handling test equipment and prototype hardware
• Authorized to work in the US
• Health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off and company-paid holidays
• Fast decision cycles and short reporting chain