Principal Electrical Engineer

Company Description

Inspired Flight’s Purpose Statement says it all - Conserving resources, creating jobs, and saving lives by innovating the American drone manufacturing.  Founded in San Luis Obispo, California our entirely U.S. based team designs, builds and supports highly capable and flexible drone platforms for both commercial and government customers.  

Our purpose driven team exemplifies our Core Values. We are: 

Collaborative: We harness the collective intelligence and energy of our team to surpass individual potentials and achieve shared goals.

Resilient: We approach obstacles with flexibility and creativity, supporting one another to stay focused, resourceful, and determined.

Diverse: We place a high value in people of all heritages, genders, sexual orientations, and points of view to spark innovation and solutions, enriching our work environment and outputs.

Continuously Improving: We are committed to ongoing learning and innovation by always seeking ways to enhance our processes, products, and personal expertise.

Underlying all of this is our deeply rooted belief that the cutting-edge aerial tools we create are advancing an industry that is good for people, good for our planet and good for the United States of America. 

Location

This is an in-office position for hire at Inspired Flight’s HQ in San Luis Obispo, CA.  

Job Description

Inspired Flight is seeking a talented and experienced Principal Electrical Engineer to join and lead our Engineering team. A Principal Electrical Engineer is a specialized role responsible for leading the team in the design of electrical compliments  and complex embedded systems within drone architecture. 

This position is at the core of the engineering department at Inspired Flight and will be part of a rapidly growing company in the growing UAV industry. Lots of upward mobility available for this role!

Typical Responsibilities:

• Work directly with VP of Engineering to develop and deliver new and exciting technologies


• Design electrical circuit schematics and PCBs and overall engineering documentation 

• Perform the design of power electronics external and internal to the aircraft.


• Embedded system design utilizing microcontrollers and FPGA

• Implement design best practices such as design for manufacturability and testability 


• Evaluation of electronic designs using simulation and prototyping

You’ll excel in this role if you are skilled in:

• Great communication and organizational skills working with cross functional teams within engineering and operations 


• Experience in design of robust, EMI resilient analog and digital circuits


• Experience in power electronics such as batteries, chargers, or high current devices 

• Experience in testing, troubleshooting and debugging of PCBs and electrical assemblies

• A strong understanding microcontrollers or FPGA type hardware


• Experience using serial communication protocols including I2C, SPI, SMBus,CAN, PWM

• Knowledge of BLDC motor operating principles and control methods such as field oriented control (FOC)


• Experience in RF Design or Analysis 


• Tuning of flight control algorithms including PIDs and sensor filters


• UAV Pilot experience and/or a FAA Part 107 License

Education/Experience Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent discipline is required or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience


• 7-10+ Years experience in a related field 


• Experience preferably in the following industries: UAS, aviation, aerospace, defense sector

Benefits Offered

• Unlimited Paid Time Off


• World Class Health, Dental, Vision Insurance Plan


• 401k w/ 6% company match


• Quarterly Team Bonus Plan

Physical Demands:  The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee may need to sit and stand for long periods; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone.

Equal Opportunity Employer 

Inspired Flight is deeply committed to building a workplace where inclusion is not only valued, but prioritized. We pride ourselves on being an equal opportunity employer that seeks to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, or expression, family status, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, neurodiversity, age, or veteran status, or any other non-merit based or legally protected grounds.  

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position.  Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their supervisor.