Founding Hardware Engineer

## **About Us** > Seeing Systems is building autonomous drone systems that can perceive, navigate, and act intelligently in complex real-world environments. We’re **advancing autonomy** through monocular vision, sensor fusion, and robust system design — drones that keep working where traditional systems fail, supported by an agentic stack that reduces operator cognitive load. Our first product is an **FPV-class drone** built from the ground up with a **modular hardware architecture**. If we get the first platform right, we can move fast on everything else: larger airframes, longer range, new payloads, and new mission profiles without rebuilding the stack each time. We were founded by brothers **Matthew and Alexander Le Maitre**. Matthew is a former Jane Street engineer and Cambridge CS graduate with a background in autonomous systems research. Alexander is a self-taught hardware engineer who has been building unmanned systems and military-grade electronics. We’re an early-stage, fast-moving team working at the intersection of robotics, perception, and real-world deployment. We iterate weekly. We test in real environments. --- ## **The Role** You will own hardware at Seeing Systems from first schematic to flying systems in the field. That means **designing the electronics** and the physical systems around them: flight controllers, motor drivers, RF circuits, power systems, sensor boards, payload boards, frames, enclosures, mounts, packaging, and ground station hardware. You’ll take ownership of the whole stack and turn blank-schematic ideas into reliable products that work outside the lab. This is a **founding hardware role**. You won’t just design boards — you’ll own them through bring-up, flight testing, iteration, and production. You’ll help define the modular architecture we scale from, so every new platform builds on the last instead of starting over. You’ll **work** **directly with Alex** on hardware architecture, set technical direction, and grow into the leader of the hardware team as we scale. **Within 30 days:** you’ve brought up your first custom board and flown it on one of our drones.\ **Within 90 days:** you will have completed the first production-ready revision of our modular flight controller and integrated it into our alpha airframe --- ## **What You'll Do** * **Design PCBs** end-to-end: flight controllers, motor drivers, RF and antenna boards, power distribution, BMS, sensor boards, and payload boards. * **Own schematic capture**, multi-layer layout, bring-up, debug, signal and power integrity, and EMI/EMC. * **Build the physical system** around the electronics: enclosures, mounts, thermal solutions, airframe integration, and ground station hardware. * **Own RF and wireless subsystems:** telemetry, video downlink, and command & control, including antenna integration and range testing in poor conditions and optimise for high-interference electronic warfare environments. * **Define system architecture** and translate block diagrams into functional products. * **Work with manufacturers** and suppliers on cost, yield, reliability, and manufacturability. * **Use AI tools** to accelerate design, firmware, and debug. * **Help define engineering culture**, tools, and the hardware team behind you. --- ## **What We're Looking For** * A track record of taking hardware from blank page to manufactured units that work in the field, or a portfolio of personal builds that proves you can do it. * Strong PCB design skills in Altium or KiCad. * Deep grounding in analog, digital, and power electronics. * Real RF/wireless design experience. * Comfortable with the gap between “works on the bench” and “works at range in the field.” * Bias toward shipping. * Comfortable getting outside and testing in the real world with us. --- ## **Nice to Have** * Defence, aerospace, or UAV industry experience. * Personal experience building and flying drones, robots, or other unmanned systems. * Embedded work with STM32-class MCUs and protocols such as SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN, and Ethernet. * Long-range RF protocols and link budget analysis. * Analog and high-speed digital video design. * C/C++ firmware for board bring-up and diagnostics. * DFM, DFT, and EMI experience. * Startup or founding engineer experience. --- ## **Why Join** * Founding-level ownership of the hardware stack and technical direction. * Fast iteration: hardware in operators’ hands in months, not years. * Small, high-agency team with a direct line from idea to field test. * Real deployment pressure, real feedback, real learning. * Snack of choice stocked in the workshop Visa sponsorship is offered for this role.