Electrical Engineer, Merlin
$85-115k
More information about location
Aviation tech for fully autonomous flight
Job no longer available
Aviation tech for fully autonomous flight
201-500 employees
Job no longer available
$85-115k
More information about location
201-500 employees
Company mission
To build the AI-powered operating system of record that allows aircraft, large and small, to fly autonomously.
Role
Who you are
- You are a motivated and detail-oriented electrical engineer who is excited to help develop next-generation autonomous aerospace systems
- You thrive in fast-paced startup environments where collaboration, ownership, and technical excellence are critical to success
- You bring experience designing and integrating complex electrical systems for aerospace, robotics, autonomous systems, or other high-performance hardware applications
- You enjoy solving challenging technical problems and working across multidisciplinary teams to bring advanced hardware from concept through flight testing and production
- You are comfortable balancing rapid development timelines with the rigor required for mission-critical systems and regulated environments
- You are hands-on, adaptable, and passionate about building reliable, scalable electrical architectures that enable autonomous flight
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related engineering discipline
- 1-3 years of professional electrical engineering experience in aerospace, autonomous systems, robotics, automotive, defense, or other high-performance hardware industries
- Experience designing and integrating electrical systems for complex electromechanical platforms
- Experience creating wiring diagrams, wiring harness documentation, and electrical integration drawings
- Knowledge of power systems, signal integrity, embedded hardware, sensors, communications interfaces, and avionics integration principles
- Hands-on experience with hardware bring-up, lab debugging, electrical testing, and troubleshooting
- Familiarity with oscilloscopes, multimeters, logic analyzers, and other electrical lab equipment
- Understanding of EMC/EMI considerations, grounding strategies, and reliability-focused design practices
- Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering teams
- Experience supporting autonomous aircraft, UAVs, eVTOL platforms, robotics systems, or flight hardware development is highly preferred
- Hands-on mechanical prototyping a plus (3d printing, laser cutting, etc.)
- Familiarity with FAA certification environments, aerospace standards, or regulated development processes is a plus
What the job involves
- Design, develop, and integrate electrical systems and hardware for autonomous aircraft platforms including power distribution, avionics interfaces, harnessing, sensors, communications, and embedded electronics
- Create schematics, wiring diagrams, and electrical documentation to support prototype and production hardware builds
- Support electrical architecture development, component selection, system integration, and hardware validation activities
- Collaborate closely with mechanical, avionics, software, systems engineering, manufacturing, and flight test teams to ensure seamless integration across aircraft systems
- Perform electrical analysis, troubleshooting, and root cause investigations to resolve hardware and integration issues
- Support prototype assembly, hardware bring-up, integration testing, environmental testing, and flight test operations
- Develop and execute electrical test plans, validation procedures, and qualification activities
- Work with suppliers and manufacturing partners to support fabrication, sourcing, and production readiness efforts
- Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives focused on reliability, manufacturability, weight optimization, power efficiency, and system performance
- Operate effectively in a fast-moving development environment with evolving priorities and aggressive execution schedules
Our take
Companies like Xwing and Reliable Robotics are retrofitting aircrafts for full autonomy, however, Merlin is taking a different route. Rather than building its own aircraft, it's developing the Merlin Pilot - an autonomous flight system designed to integrate into existing fleets. And this systems-first approach is gaining real traction across commercial and defense sectors.
Instead of developing an autonomous vehicle, the company has designed configurable software that can be fitted into any plane to turn it into one. It’s already received certification from the FAA in the US, and the CAA in New Zealand; now, the goal is to get it fitted into large commercial aircraft to help reduce crew sizes. Ultimately, Merlin is hoping its software will be used to fly smaller aircraft completely autonomously.
Providing a way for non-autonomous aircraft to be repurposed is a neat and attractive solution: costly aircraft needn’t be scrapped, human co-pilots don’t require retraining, and there’s a wealth of existing commercial and private applications for the software. So it’s an astute way of manoeuvring ahead of well-funded competition. Investors are paying attention, as are top-tier clients: Merlin has partnered with the likes of Ameriflight, the U.S. Air Force, and Dynamic Aviation, and pulled in millions of dollars of funding.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
55% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Apr 2023
$1m
GRANT
Jul 2022
$105m
SERIES B
Total funding: $170.8m
Company benefits
- Equity in Merlin
- Flexible paid time off
- Comprehesive healthcare
- Parental leave
- Lifestyle spending account
- 401K program
Company HQ
Leather District, Boston, MA
Leadership
Matt George
(CEO)Served in an OPC role at The White House, then on the Senior Advisory Board at Boston 2024. Went on to found and lead tech company Bridj before joining Merlin Labs in 2018.
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