Principal, Hardware Engineer

- 10+ years designing and shipping complex hardware systems

- Track record taking systems the full development cycle from prototype through manufacturing and deployment

- Senior IC or technical leadership background at hardware companies that actually shipped

- Deep technical judgment across at least two of: mechanical, electrical, power electronics, embedded systems

- Pattern recognition from having built real systems before, especially systems that had to survive real-world conditions

- Comfort operating as the technical anchor on a small team, not the manager of a large one

- Directed energy, laser, or high-power systems experience

- Defense or aerospace program experience with MIL-STD or equivalent qualification

- Founder or founding engineer background at a hardware company

- Manufacturing depth as-in you've stood up production lines or worked closely with the manufacturers who do

- Active security clearance or ability to obtain one

- Extreme bias for action. You'd rather build a prototype tomorrow than model it for a month

- You characterize your own systems before the field does

- Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment

- You debug from first principles, not intuition alone

- Clear communicator across mechanical, electrical, optical, and software teams

- Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

- Build more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.

- Career velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.

- Work on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer - infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.

- Join the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.

Core hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 6. When we're sprinting toward a demo or field test, the team ramps up - nights, weekends, whatever it takes to ship. When the sprint lands, we ramp down.

We don't manufacture intensity for show.

- Competitive salary and equity

- United Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage

- Flexible 18 days PTO plus 5 sick days

- Travel to field test events and range days

- Covered daily lunches and office snacks and drinks

- E-bike and scooter stipend up to $500

- Direct access to leadership and real ownership over your work

This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require U.S. Person status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a U.S.

Person: (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).