Hardware Engineer (founding)

Needl Inc.
San Francisco, CA, United States
about 1 month ago
Apply on www.careerboard.com
Prepare application

Role details

Contract type
Permanent contract
Employment type
Full-time (> 32 hours)
Experience level
Expert
Compensation
$250,000.0
Working hours
Regular working hours

Tech stack

3d Models Software Debugging Ethernet Build Management Lidar GNSS

Job description

As a founding Hardware/Mechatronics Engineer, you’ll design and build the core systems that enable remote operation, sensing, and autonomy assistance on industrial machines. You’ll work across mechanical, electrical, and Embedded disciplines, often all in the same day. System Design & Prototyping

  • Architect and build tele-operation hardware systems, including power, compute, and control modules for machine retrofits.

Sensor Integration

  • Integrate and calibrate cameras, LiDAR, radar, GNSS, IMUs, and other sensors using interfaces like GMSL, CAN, and Ethernet.

Electrical & Mechanical Integration

  • Design robust wiring harnesses, brackets, mounts, and enclosures that survive real-world abuse.

Communication Interfaces

  • Implement and validate CAN, LIN, J1939, Serial, and Ethernet connections with both existing ECUs and custom control hardware.

Manufacturing & DFM

  • Work with vendors to bring designs from scrappy prototypes to reliable production, including DFM, testing, and validation.

Testing & Validation

  • Lead machine bring-up, HIL testing, and on-site debugging alongside software and autonomy engineers.

Documentation & Design

  • Produce schematics, harness drawings, CAD models, assembly docs, and anything else needed to build and scale the hardware.

Requirements

  • You’re a hacker at heart - the kind of person who gets a prototype working before most people finish their planning doc.
  • You’ve built something from scratch: a company, a product, a robot, a system - success not required, agency absolutely required.
  • You work extremely hard, laugh often, and don’t mind chaos. You prefer figure it out now to wait for perfect requirements.

About the company

We’re a tiny, fast-moving team building autonomous systems for heavy industrial machines. We retrofit existing equipment with a plug-and-play autonomy kit that taps directly into machine controls and layers on a full perception + connectivity stack: multi-sensor vision, LiDAR, high-precision GNSS, IMU, and a low-latency tele-operation network.

In just a few months, we’ve gone from first prototype to real machines operating on active job sites, with early recurring revenue and a growing pipeline of paid pilots. We’re backed by top-tier early-stage investors along with a group of founder-operators who know what it takes to build in the real world.

Our founding team has built and shipped hardware, software, and robotics systems before. We thrive where physical machinery, harsh environments, and rapid iteration collide. Why Join Us

  • You want to work on problems that actually matter - fixing how the world builds things. Construction is the backbone of civilization, and it’s currently broken. We’re here to change that.
  • You don’t want a cushy robotics lab job. You want to build robots in the mud, on real sites, under real constraints. You’d rather spend a week living out of a dusty RV next to a machine you’re debugging than polishing a slide deck.
  • You want to see your designs move 20-50 tons of real hardware. You want to feel the stakes.
  • You want teammates who operate at founder-level intensity and ownership.

Apply for this position

This job is hosted externally. Click below to view the full posting and apply.

Apply on www.careerboard.com
Prepare application

Good distractions

Talks and stories from around this role — technically off-topic, practically not.

2:17 min

Validating lidar sensor models against real noise

Ulrich Wurstbauer +1 · LIVE

4:52 min

Connecting namespaces with local virtual ethernet pairs

Oliver Seitz Oliver Seitz · World Congress 2025

1:07 min

Finding joy and taking pride in engineering work

Werner Vogels Werner Vogels +1 · World Congress 2026 Europe

2:08 min

Processing physical environment data with lidar models

Oliver Zimmert · LIVE

3:11 min

Bridging business and technology with strong technical foundations

2:12 min

Implementing automotive ethernet and connected remote vehicle telemetry applications

David Romić · World Congress 2023

Videos

See all

Related articles

See all