Hardware Systems Lead, Industrials

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy.

Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.;
San Diego;
Ft. Walton Beach, Florida;
Ann Arbor, Michigan;
London;
Stuttgart;
Munich;
Stockholm;
Bangalore;
Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments.

This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

Applied Intuition is bringing Physical AI to the machines that build, feed, and power the world. As Hardware Systems Lead for Industrials, you will be the hands-on chief engineer for the hardware that runs on heavy industrial vehicles in mining, agriculture, and construction. You will understand the full system, mechanical and electrical, and own the question that matters most in these environments: will it survive?

You will architect, build, test, and break hardware, then use what you learn to make it tougher. You'll work in the field as much as at the bench, and your decisions will define how Applied's hardware performs on real machines in dust, vibration, heat, mud, and shock.

• Own the end-to-end hardware architecture, mechanical and electrical, for Applied's industrial vehicle programs
• Interface with industrial customers as a representative of the hardware organization
• Be hands-on: prototype, build, install, debug, and test hardware on real machines, not just review designs
• Define and drive survivability: determine how sensors, compute, harnesses, connectors, and enclosures will hold up to vibration, shock, dust, water ingress, thermal extremes, EMI, and years of heavy use
• Design and run environmental and durability testing, analyze failures, and drive root cause and design fixes
• Lead integration of sensors (lidar, radar, cameras, GNSS/IMU), compute, power, networking, and actuation onto OEM heavy equipment
• Understand the host machine (powertrain, electrohydraulics, vehicle electrical architecture, CAN/J1939) well enough to integrate safely and reliably
• Be the technical authority and escalation point for hardware tradeoffs across mechanical, electrical, software, and test
• Lead hardware design reviews, set engineering standards, and mentor other engineers
• Support field deployments and commissioning at mine sites, farms, and customer facilities

• BS/MS in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or a related field
• 10+ years of hands-on hardware engineering experience on heavy industrial or off-highway vehicles (mining, agriculture, construction, or similar)
• Strong command of the whole hardware system: mechanical design, electrical architecture, power distribution, harness design, and how they interact
• A track record of designing hardware to survive harsh environments, with real experience in vibration, shock, ingress protection, thermal management, and EMI
• Hands-on experience in the lab and in the field: building prototypes, wiring and debugging systems, running tests, and diagnosing failures on real machines
• Deep knowledge of how industrial machines work, including powertrains, hydraulics, braking, steering, and CAN/J1939 networks
• Experience integrating hardware onto OEM or retrofit equipment
• Familiarity with autonomy hardware such as lidar, radar, cameras, GNSS/IMU, and ruggedized compute
• Systems-level thinking and the ability to make architecture decisions and defend them
• Experience with reliability and qualification testing (environmental testing, HALT, field durability)
• Comfort working directly with OEMs, customers, and site operators,…