Lead - Embedded Engineering

About the Company

The hiring organization is developing autonomous ships and submarines designed to function in extremely demanding environments. Its work includes India’s flagship autonomous submarine program, Jalkapi XLAUV, built for the Indian Navy. This unmanned submarine weighs more than 20 tons, can travel over 5,000 kilometers autonomously, and is intended to remain at sea for more than 30 days at a stretch. The team is building some of the world’s largest autonomous robotic systems, with meaningful relevance to national security and the global economy.

Role Overview

This is a full-time Lead - Embedded Engineering position based in Bengaluru. The role calls for an experienced engineer to take end-to-end ownership of the vessel’s electrical, embedded, firmware, and power systems. You will help create the hardware and software foundation that enables long-duration autonomous operation in harsh marine conditions.

What You Will Own

• End-to-end ownership of the vessel’s electrical and embedded stack, including firmware, PCB design, schematics, wiring, and power electronics.
• Development of the platform’s electrical and power architecture, starting from board-level design and extending to full-vessel wiring.
• Close collaboration with mechanical, software, and robotics teams to integrate systems, bring up hardware, and support field testing.
• Creation of dependable embedded and electrical systems for autonomous platforms that must operate reliably in highly challenging environments.

Core Responsibilities

• Lead the electrical and embedded engineering effort across firmware, electronics, and power systems for the vessel.
• Design PCBs, schematics, and wiring diagrams for the complete vessel, covering compute, power, communications, and sensor/actuator connections.
• Create and refine power-electronics and drive circuits, including DC-DC converters, power supplies, isolation, protection, and EMI/EMC considerations.
• Build and maintain firmware for microcontrollers and onboard compute systems with dependable real-time behavior.
• Integrate sensors and actuators such as GNSS, INS/AHRS, altimeters, pressure and depth sensors, acoustic modems, thrusters, fins, and battery systems.
• Support hardware bring-up, wiring, and in-water testing in partnership with the mechanical and software teams.
• Shape power-management and energy-system solutions for long-endurance autonomous missions.
• Plan and execute qualification and compliance testing for electronics and power systems, including EMI/EMC and environmental checks.
• Maintain detailed engineering records such as schematics, wiring diagrams, design notes, and test reports for traceability and lifecycle support.
• Establish strong development, review, and test practices to ensure reliability during trials and at sea.
• Support pool, harbour, and sea trials by troubleshooting and resolving embedded, electrical, and hardware issues on site.
• Mentor embedded engineers and reinforce sound engineering practices across the team.

Experience and Qualifications

The role requires 8–10 years of practical experience in embedded systems work spanning firmware, hardware, and power electronics. Candidates should have strong microcontroller firmware skills, solid hardware design capability, and hands-on debugging experience. A clear understanding of how device drivers connect with the higher-level software or autonomy stack is also expected.

Technical Requirements

• Hands-on experience with microcontroller-based firmware development.
• Strong capability in schematic capture, multilayer PCB design, and board-level debugging.
• Experience integrating sensors and actuators using UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, and RS-232/485.
• Working knowledge of the relationship between device drivers and higher-level autonomy software.
• Strong troubleshooting skills across both hardware and firmware.
• Exposure to power system design is preferred.

Preferred Background

• Experience in robotics, marine or subsea systems, defense, automotive, or aerospace.
• Prior work on autonomous or unmanned systems.
• Familiarity with power-system architecture and design.

Why This Role Stands Out

• Work on hardware that enables autonomy in real missions, including a 20-ton submarine designed to travel 5,000+ kilometers underwater.
• Contribute to systems with direct mission impact in defense and security operations.
• Own the embedded and electrical stack end-to-end, from hardware and power to firmware and integration.
• Collaborate across electronics, power, mechanical, software, and robotics disciplines.
• Compensation is positioned at the top quartile for the role, and health insurance is provided for the employee and family, along with other benefits.

Working Location

This role is based in Bengaluru, India.

Compensation

The salary range is INR 35,00,000 to INR 60,00,000 per year.

Additional Information

The work demands systems that do more than simply compile or function in a lab; they must remain reliable for more than 5,000 km of operation and over 30 days underwater without a reboot. The environment is high-stakes and focused on dependable performance under difficult conditions.