Founding Electrical Engineer

Department: Engineering

Location: Newton, MA

Employment Type: FullTime

About Us

Zydro Marine Technologies is a venture-backed startup creating "Building Blocks for Trusted Autonomy at Sea" - An ecosystem of software & hardware components for marine autonomy.

Our mission is to empower the next generation of ocean explorers with foundational tools to build and deploy mission-capable unmanned systems.

We're a team of experts in robotics, command & control software, IoT, and marine electronics, and we partner with boatbuilders & government customers to solve hard problems at sea. We’re growing, and looking for talented, driven engineers with an interest in the maritime domain!

The Role

We’re hiring an Electrical Engineer to lead the design, testing, and production of embedded modular components used in Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs). As the first dedicated electrical engineer on the team, you’ll own the full lifecycle of electrical design — from concept through schematic capture, PCB layout, and prototype bring-up to small-batch manufacturing and field validation.

You’ll work closely with software and mechanical engineers to integrate electrical systems into our modular autonomy kit, enabling reliable control, sensing, and communication across diverse vessel platforms. This role is highly hands-on and interdisciplinary — ideal for someone who can move fluidly between the lab bench, CAD workstation, and test vessel.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and test low-volume PCB assemblies and harnesses for prototype and pilot deployments.

• Develop schematics, layouts, and documentation in Altium Designer (KiCad or equivalent acceptable).

• Select and qualify electrical components and manage relationships with vendors and fabrication houses.

• Collaborate with mechanical engineers on packaging, thermal, and connectorization design.

• Develop and debug low-level embedded firmware (C/C++/Python) for board bring-up, sensor integration, and diagnostics.

• Validate designs through bench testing, integration testing, and sea trials.

• Contribute to electrical safety, EMI mitigation, and environmental robustness standards for marine operation.

Preferred Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience.

• Proven experience with embedded electronics design, schematic capture, and PCB layout.

• Proficiency in Altium Designer, KiCad, or similar EDA tools.

• Familiarity with embedded software, microcontrollers, and low-level interfaces such as CAN, UART, SPI, and I²C.

• Understanding of power systems, signal conditioning, and sensor integration.

• Experience with marine electronics, autonomous systems, or ruggedized hardware design is a plus.

• Comfort working with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other lab equipment for debugging and validation.

• Knowledge of manufacturing, DFM, and small-run PCB assembly processes.

• Familiarity with general-purpose CAD tools such as Solidworks.