Job Description

Founding Member of Technical Staff (Hardware)

• Title of Role: Founding Member of Technical Staff (Hardware)
• Location: San Francisco, CA, onsite
• Company Stage of Funding: Venture-Backed — Technology, Information and Internet
• Office Type: Onsite
• Salary: $200K–$500K

We're representing an early-stage company at the forefront of hardware technology. As a founding technical hire, you will have the unique opportunity to work directly with the founders, shaping the engineering culture, technical direction, and product architecture from the ground up. This is a rare chance to make a significant impact from day one in a dynamic and innovative environment.

What You Will Do

• Serve as a key technical voice in hardware engineering, influencing product and company trajectory.
• Design, prototype, and iterate on hardware systems from concept through validation.
• Collaborate closely with leadership to translate vision into actionable engineering roadmaps.
• Establish foundational engineering processes and best practices that will scale with the team.
• Tackle complex hardware challenges with high autonomy and limited resources.
• Engage cross-functionally across firmware, software, and mechanical disciplines as needed.
• Contribute to recruiting efforts to build a strong future hardware engineering team.

Ideal Candidate Background

• 4+ years of hands-on experience in hardware engineering, including design, prototyping, and testing.
• Proven ability to manage hardware projects end-to-end in fast-paced or resource-constrained environments.
• Strong systems-level thinking with the capability to balance tradeoffs in power, performance, cost, and manufacturability.
• Excellent communication skills, adept at collaborating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred

• Experience as a founding engineer or early technical hire at a startup.
• Exposure to cross-disciplinary work in electrical, mechanical, or embedded firmware domains.
• Experience in taking hardware from prototype to production.

Compensation and Benefits

The base salary for this role ranges from $200K to $500K, complemented by equity between 0.5% and 2.5%. This opportunity offers a chance to be part of an innovative team making a substantial impact in the hardware technology space.