Hardware & Electrical Engineer
Hardware & Electrical Engineers in AI companies design and optimize the physical systems that power AI infrastructure—from circuit boards and power delivery networks for AI accelerators to cooling systems and signal integrity in data center environments. They collaborate closely with firmware, software, and systems teams to translate performance requirements into manufacturable hardware, often working on high-speed interfaces, thermal management, and reliability validation for next-generation AI compute platforms. What distinguishes this work is the focus on solving real-time performance bottlenecks at scale: ensuring power delivery meets demanding AI workloads, managing thermal challenges in liquid-cooled systems, and validating signal integrity across complex interconnects that directly impact model training and inference speeds. These engineers typically sit within hardware engineering or infrastructure teams at AI hardware companies, robotics firms, or cloud providers building AI-optimized data centers, working alongside cross-functional teams of systems architects, firmware engineers, and manufacturing partners.
Skills
What companies are looking for in this role.
Designing and developing custom printed circuit boards for high-reliability applications
Architecting power distribution and power conversion systems including DC-DC converters and power management circuits
Managing hardware design through the full product lifecycle from concept through production
Conducting electrical characterization, validation, and bring-up of prototype hardware
Performing electrical schematic design and circuit simulation for complex systems
Performing system-level integration across mechanical, electrical, firmware, and software subsystems
Developing automated test systems and test sequences for hardware validation
Prototyping and iterating on hardware designs rapidly with hands-on validation
Designing analog and mixed-signal circuits for sensing, filtering, control, and signal conditioning
Developing and executing reliability testing including HALT, HASS, vibration, thermal cycling, and drop testing
Troubleshooting and debugging complex hardware systems to isolate root causes
Performing root cause analysis and failure mode analysis on hardware defects and field failures
Collaborating with manufacturing partners and contract manufacturers on design for manufacturability
Writing technical specifications, requirements documents, and interface control documents
Designing and managing mechanical systems and assemblies including fixtures, mounts, and enclosures
Conducting thermal analysis and designing thermal management systems
Designing compact and integrated electronic systems for space-constrained applications
Designing production test fixtures and implementing production test gates
Designing and validating RF communication systems and antenna placement
Developing firmware and embedded software for hardware control and data acquisition
Performing electromagnetic compatibility and radio frequency emissions analysis
Conducting tolerance analysis, stack-up analysis, and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing
Designing and developing electromechanical actuators including motors, transmissions, and control systems
Performing optical system design and imaging system modeling for sensor applications
Automating hardware provisioning, configuration, and monitoring at scale
Translating ambiguous requirements into concrete technical designs and implementation plans
Communicating technical concepts clearly across hardware, software, and non-technical stakeholders
Leading cross-functional teams across electrical, mechanical, software, and operations disciplines
Owning program execution and delivery against schedule and cost targets
Establishing design standards, best practices, and engineering documentation
Mentoring junior engineers and establishing technical authorities in specialized domains
Technology
The tools and technologies that define this role.
Open Jobs
354 open Hardware & Electrical Engineer jobs across 26 companies.
Other Physical Systems roles
Engineers working on integrated circuit and system-on-chip design, including RTL design, physical design, silicon verification, ASIC/FPGA development, SoC architecture, and advanced packaging.
Engineers writing software that runs directly on hardware — firmware, embedded systems, RTOS, device drivers, microcontroller programming, and board support packages.
Engineers building physical robotic systems — manipulation, locomotion, motion planning, controls, perception for physical interaction, and autonomous navigation. Covers the full robotics stack from hardware integration through control software. Distinguished from Simulation Engineer (research_science) which builds virtual environments for training AI.
Engineers ensuring the safety of physical systems through functional safety analysis, hazard assessment, system safety engineering, and verification & validation of safety-critical systems.
Technicians who install, cable, commission, and maintain hardware in data center environments. Covers structured cabling, hardware rack-and-stack, field deployment, and physical network infrastructure.