Embedded Hardware Engineer

Kai Concepts is a Bay Area team, founded by Don Montague, known for testing the limits of kite propulsion, hydrofoil technology and experimenting with technological advances in water-sport technology. The company has strong backing from industry luminaries. We are a small team of creative problem solvers with backgrounds in engineering, software development, manufacturing, inflatable design, and competitive windsurfing and kitesurfing. We are extremely passionate individuals who get an immense amount of satisfaction out of collaborating to solve some truly unique and challenging problems.

We are searching for a driven individual that is a team player and willing to learn and adapt to our culture. We are a dynamic company solving amazing problems and being flexible is a huge part of our mentality at KAI Concepts. Having a passion for marine environment and/or water-sports is a huge plus and will make your experience at Kai Concepts even more fulfilling.

Job Description

As an embedded hardware engineer at Kai Concepts, you will be involved with designing, overseeing, organizing, testing, and managing our hardware designs for our futuristic marine electric vehicle systems. Our ideal candidate is an experienced, passionate, and like-minded individual with a sense of adventure who gets a thrill out of solving challenging problems and is eager to develop next-gen marine EV technology. With exceptional problem solving abilities and a proven ability to strategize you will help us scale our hardware/PCBA designs. Ultimately, you are motivated by the desire to optimize productivity and solve challenging technical problems.

Responsibilities

Some of what you will be doing:

  • Take ownership of embedded hardware (PCBA) and design embedded systems for use in foiling electric marine vehicles.
  • Oversee and manage our PCBA production by coordinating with overseas vendors on resolving PCBA production and sourcing problems as well as developing systems for end of line unit testing.
  • Manage and improve existing production hardware (PCBA) designs.
  • Build, test, support, and iterate on novel embedded hardware prototypes.
  • Assist with and document project scope, deliverables, goals, risks, blockers, success measures, and estimated resources needed.

Required Skills and Qualifications

  • Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
  • Capability to solve extremely challenging technical problems twice as fast as your peers.
  • Self-starter with excellent time management skills, high level attention to detail, and an innate curiosity for problem solving.
  • 2+ Years of electronics design experience using ECAD tools for hardware/PCBA design such as EAGLE, ALTIUM, or KiCAD.
  • 2+ Years of experience with debugging hardware/electronics/PCBA.
  • 2+ Years of experience with EE test equipment e.x. oscilloscopes, multimeters, power supplies, etc.
  • Experience with low level communication protocols (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART).
  • Strong embedded firmware skills (C/C++) and experience with embedded systems.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with designing/debugging mechatronics systems, brushless electric motors/controllers, servos, and lithium battery systems.
  • Experience with BLE, 4G LTE, WiFi and other wireless communication protocols.
  • Experience with inertial navigation systems for autonomous electric vehicles.
  • Proficiency with a higher level language such as Python.