Embedded HW​/SW Engineer

Embedded HW/SW Engineer— Distributed Weather Sensor Networks

Location: Long Beach
Team: Hardware Engineering
Level: Individual Contributor (2–4 years experience)
Type: Fulltime

We’re building a planet‑scale, sensor‑to‑decision weather capability—modern sensing hardware, AI‑native forecasting, and decision intelligence—so organizations can act on weather with confidence. Your work will help stand up autonomous, distributed sensing hardware and the data pathways that feed our forecasting and decision tools.

Own the development of a distributed mesh network of weather sensors that can (1) measure and log environmental data, (2) perform onboard compute at the edge, (3) effect motion (motors/actuators), and (4) transmit data reliably over RF line of sight and satellite links. Initially you’ll take the first platform from concept through build, test, and production ramp, then extend the approach to additional platforms and vehicle form factors.

• Select and integrate off‑the‑shelf sensors (meteorological sensors, GPS/IMU), microcontrollers, and communication modules; define interfaces and power budgets.
• Define and implement robust power systems.
• Architect resilient mesh networking for remote, intermittently connected nodes (routing, store and forward, edge buffering).

• Own bring‑up and validation of boards (COTS and potentially in‑house PCB work); design low‑noise analog front‑ends and sensor conditioning.
• Develop embedded firmware (C/C++), drivers, and HALs for I²C/SPI/UART/CAN/RS485 devices; implement logging and configuration.
• Implement actuator control (PWM, BLDC/stepper drivers, solenoids) with safety interlocks and diagnostics.

• Configure long‑range RF (e.g., sub‑GHz ISM, LoRa/LoRaWAN, FSK/OOK, possibly QAM) and integrate satellite modems (e.g., Iridium/Globalstar); design robust telemetry with retries, compression, and over‑the‑air update pipelines.
• Deploy onboard processing for filtering, feature extraction, and basic anomaly detection; optimize for low‑power duty cycles.
• Engineer for environmental extremes (humidity, salt fog, thermal cycling); contribute to enclosure/IP sealing choices.

• Author test plans, fixtures, and scripts; run HAL/driver unit tests, RF link tests, and environmental performance tests.
• Drive DFM/DFT decisions and supplier selection; support pilot builds and yield/debug during production ramp.

• Support field deployments and remote troubleshooting; collaborate closely with modeling/forecasting and decision‑software teams to ensure sensor outputs meet platform needs.
• Maintain schematics, BOMs, ICDs, and test reports; contribute to platform standards and best practices across future vehicle types.

• B.S. in Electrical or Mechanical (or related) and 2–4 years building real hardware in fast‑paced environments.
• Hands‑on embedded development in C/C++ (RTOS or bare metal); familiarity with Python for test automation.
• Experience integrating sensors and actuators: analog front ends, calibration, signal integrity, and safety.
• Practical RF fundamentals (link budgets, antennas, modulation, sensitivity, interference) and long‑range comms; exposure to satellite telemetry.
• Comfort with PCB tools (e.g., Altium/KiCad), lab instrumentation (scope, VNA, spectrum analyzer), and hardware bring‑up.
• Proven ownership from prototype through test and manufacturing/production support.

• Mesh protocols:
  LoRaWAN, Thread, Zigbee, 6
  
  LoWPAN, or custom routing over sub‑GHz.
• OTA update frameworks, secure boot, encryption, and key management for edge devices.
• Low‑power design (sleep states, power gating), energy harvesting, or field hardening for harsh environments.
• Experience in new space or aerospace hardware programs (e.g., launch/on‑orbit/avionics environments with rapid iteration and strong reliability culture).
• Basic edge ML or DSP for feature extraction; telemetry compression.
• Working with contract manufacturers, suppliers, and reliability testing standards (HALT/HASS, environmental).
• 30…