{"schemaVersion":"jobsearcher.job.v1","id":"caa86b8d9ec2e88f92bcc5e7","url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/caa86b8d9ec2e88f92bcc5e7","canonicalUrl":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/caa86b8d9ec2e88f92bcc5e7","title":"Principal, Hardware Engineer","description":"Who We Are:\nAurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.\nWe're a small team of ~10 engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.\nOur namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate — small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.\nIn addition to our San Francisco lab, we opened our Detroit manufacturing hub and field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.\nThe Role and Your Impact:\nWe need a Principal Hardware Engineer to bring senior technical judgment across Archimedes hardware. You are a highly experienced builder who has seen systems go the full way. From a working prototype to hardware that ships and survives in the field. You've done it more than once. You know where systems break, where teams get stuck, and how to keep both moving.\nThis is a technical leadership seat, not a people management seat. Your role is to raise the level of the hardware org through experience, architectural judgment, and hands-on execution. You lead by example, you unblock hard problems, and you set the technical bar for how hardware gets designed and shipped at Aurelius.\nYou'll partner with the founders and the Director of Engineering on architecture and roadmap. You'll work directly alongside mechanical, electrical, power, embedded, and optics engineers on the hardest problems the team is facing.\nWhat You'll Own:\nArchitectural direction across the hardware stack from mechanical, electrical, power, to embedded integration\nTechnical decisions on the hardest problems, from concept through production readiness\nPattern recognition and technical review like surfacing risk early, and catching what junior engineers miss\nHandson execution when the problem needs your specific experience to solve fast\nDesign and manufacturing trades across cost, mass, reliability, schedule, and field performance\nCross-team judgment when hardware, controls, optics, and software collide\nSetting the technical bar for design reviews, documentation quality, and release standards\nMentorship by example. Engineers should learn from watching you work, not from being managed by you\nWhat We're Looking For:\n10+ years designing and shipping complex hardware systems\nTrack record taking systems the full development cycle from prototype through manufacturing and deployment\nSenior IC or technical leadership background at hardware companies that actually shipped\nDeep technical judgment across at least two of: mechanical, electrical, power electronics, embedded systems\nPattern recognition from having built real systems before, especially systems that had to survive real-world conditions\nComfort operating as the technical anchor on a small team, not the manager of a large one\nNice to Haves:\nDirected energy, laser, or high-power systems experience\nDefense or aerospace program experience with MIL-STD or equivalent qualification\nFounder or founding engineer background at a hardware company\nManufacturing depth as-in you've stood up production lines or worked closely with the manufacturers who do\nActive security clearance or ability to obtain one\nHow You Operate:\nExtreme bias for action. You'd rather build a prototype tomorrow than model it for a month\nYou characterize your own systems before the field does\nComfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment\nYou debug from first principles, not intuition alone\nClear communicator across mechanical, electrical, optical, and software teams\nSelf directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told\nWhy Join Aurelius Systems:\nBuild more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.\nCareer velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.\nWork 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.\nJoin the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.\nHow We Work:\nCore 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.\nBenefits:\nCompetitive salary and equity\nUnited Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage\nFlexible 18 days PTO plus 5 sick days\nTravel to field test events and range days\nCovered daily lunches and office snacks and drinks\nE-bike and scooter stipend up to $500\nDirect access to leadership and real ownership over your work\nExport Control Notice:\nThis 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).\nCompensation Range: $255K - $305K","company":"Aurelius Systems","rawCompany":"aurelius systems","city":"Millbrae","state":"CA","isRemote":false,"isActive":false,"createdAt":"2026-08-11T15:41:21.282Z","occupations":[{"code":"17-2061.00","title":"Computer Hardware Engineers","slug":"computer-hardware-engineers"},{"code":"11-9041.00","title":"Architectural and Engineering Managers","slug":"architectural-and-engineering-managers"},{"code":"17-2072.00","title":"Electronics Engineers, Except Computer","slug":"electronics-engineers-except-computer"}],"industries":[{"code":"334511","title":"Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing","slug":"search-detection-navigation-guidance-aeronautical-and-nautical-system-and-instrument-manufacturing"},{"code":"541715","title":"Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)","slug":"research-and-development-in-the-physical-engineering-and-life-sciences-except-nanotechnology-and-biotechnology"},{"code":"541512","title":"Computer Systems Design Services","slug":"computer-systems-design-services"}],"jobPosting":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"JobPosting","title":"Principal, Hardware Engineer","description":"Who We Are:\nAurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.\nWe're a small team of ~10 engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.\nOur namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate — small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.\nIn addition to our San Francisco lab, we opened our Detroit manufacturing hub and field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.\nThe Role and Your Impact:\nWe need a Principal Hardware Engineer to bring senior technical judgment across Archimedes hardware. You are a highly experienced builder who has seen systems go the full way. From a working prototype to hardware that ships and survives in the field. You've done it more than once. You know where systems break, where teams get stuck, and how to keep both moving.\nThis is a technical leadership seat, not a people management seat. Your role is to raise the level of the hardware org through experience, architectural judgment, and hands-on execution. You lead by example, you unblock hard problems, and you set the technical bar for how hardware gets designed and shipped at Aurelius.\nYou'll partner with the founders and the Director of Engineering on architecture and roadmap. You'll work directly alongside mechanical, electrical, power, embedded, and optics engineers on the hardest problems the team is facing.\nWhat You'll Own:\nArchitectural direction across the hardware stack from mechanical, electrical, power, to embedded integration\nTechnical decisions on the hardest problems, from concept through production readiness\nPattern recognition and technical review like surfacing risk early, and catching what junior engineers miss\nHandson execution when the problem needs your specific experience to solve fast\nDesign and manufacturing trades across cost, mass, reliability, schedule, and field performance\nCross-team judgment when hardware, controls, optics, and software collide\nSetting the technical bar for design reviews, documentation quality, and release standards\nMentorship by example. Engineers should learn from watching you work, not from being managed by you\nWhat We're Looking For:\n10+ years designing and shipping complex hardware systems\nTrack record taking systems the full development cycle from prototype through manufacturing and deployment\nSenior IC or technical leadership background at hardware companies that actually shipped\nDeep technical judgment across at least two of: mechanical, electrical, power electronics, embedded systems\nPattern recognition from having built real systems before, especially systems that had to survive real-world conditions\nComfort operating as the technical anchor on a small team, not the manager of a large one\nNice to Haves:\nDirected energy, laser, or high-power systems experience\nDefense or aerospace program experience with MIL-STD or equivalent qualification\nFounder or founding engineer background at a hardware company\nManufacturing depth as-in you've stood up production lines or worked closely with the manufacturers who do\nActive security clearance or ability to obtain one\nHow You Operate:\nExtreme bias for action. You'd rather build a prototype tomorrow than model it for a month\nYou characterize your own systems before the field does\nComfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment\nYou debug from first principles, not intuition alone\nClear communicator across mechanical, electrical, optical, and software teams\nSelf directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told\nWhy Join Aurelius Systems:\nBuild more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.\nCareer velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.\nWork 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.\nJoin the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.\nHow We Work:\nCore 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.\nBenefits:\nCompetitive salary and equity\nUnited Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage\nFlexible 18 days PTO plus 5 sick days\nTravel to field test events and range days\nCovered daily lunches and office snacks and drinks\nE-bike and scooter stipend up to $500\nDirect access to leadership and real ownership over your work\nExport Control Notice:\nThis 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).\nCompensation Range: $255K - $305K","datePosted":"2026-08-11T15:41:21.282Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T15:41:21.282Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Aurelius Systems","sameAs":"https://jobsearcher.com"},"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Millbrae","addressRegion":"CA","addressCountry":"US"}},"identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"JobSearcher","value":"caa86b8d9ec2e88f92bcc5e7"},"url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/caa86b8d9ec2e88f92bcc5e7"}}