Apptronik

Principal Electrical Engineer - Compute and Sensing

Sunnyvale, CA · Principal

Sponsorship not specified$295k-$330kDetected 22 days ago

Design SystemsLogisticsANSYSPCB DesignAltiumSystems EngineeringRoboticsElectrical EngineeringHardware DesignSensorsCommunicationMentoring

About the role

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES or KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Multi-Modal Sensing: Define the electrical architecture for a full perception stack, including LiDAR, depth cameras, IMUs, and tactile sensors.
Multi-Generational Roadmap: Define the long-term technical roadmap for Apollo's compute and sensing evolution, identifying emerging technologies (e.g., new SoCs or sensor modalities) that will keep Apptronik at the cutting edge.

Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life.
Own the end-to-end design of Apollo's safe compute architecture.
Select core processing elements (SoCs, FPGAs, MCUs) and design system-level redundancy to meet real-time performance requirements.
Lead the design and validation of custom carrier boards for high-performance modules (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson).
Expertly manage power delivery networks (PDN), thermal dissipation strategies, and high-speed signal integrity for complex interfaces.
Drive Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Reliability (DFR) for compute modules, ensuring they can withstand the high-vibration and dynamic thermal environments of a mobile humanoid robot.
Act as the ultimate technical authority on compute/sensing during design reviews with the Controls, Perception, and Systems Engineering teams.
Primary Architect: Own the end-to-end design of Apollo's safe compute architecture. Select core processing elements (SoCs, FPGAs, MCUs) and design system-level redundancy to meet real-time performance requirements.
High-Performance PCB Design: Lead the design and validation of custom carrier boards for high-performance modules (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson).
Manufacturing & Reliability: Drive Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Reliability (DFR) for compute modules, ensuring they can withstand the high-vibration and dynamic thermal environments of a mobile humanoid robot.

Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times
Architect the high-bandwidth pipelines and synchronization protocols required for sensor fusion.
Drive the physical and logical architecture decisions required to meet
Design hardware-level redundancy, fail-safe mechanisms, and Built-In Tests (BIT) to achieve required safety integrity levels (ASIL/SIL) for operation in human-occupied environments.
Proven track record of designing custom carrier boards for NVIDIA Jetson or similar high-end compute modules.
Experience integrating multi-sensor suites with precise hardware-level time synchronization.
Hands-on experience with Functional Safety architecture (ISO 26262 or equivalent).
12+ years of experience in high-performance hardware design, with a focus on robotics, autonomous vehicles, or aerospace.
This is a top-tier technical role for an expert who can design and implement the high-performance compute and sensory backbone required for general-purpose robotics.

Proficiency with Altium Designer (or similar) and hardware simulation tools (SPICE, Ansys, or HyperLynx).
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

Implement robust hardware diagnostics to monitor the health of the compute and sensing backbone in real-time.
Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen
Our flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate thoughtfully with people, starting with critical industries such as manufacturing and logistics, with future applications in healthcare, the home, and beyond.

This listing is sourced directly from Apptronik's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.