Head of Drone Hardware

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co .

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

About the role

As the Head of Drone Hardware, you will lead and scale the engineering organization responsible for all drone hardware products, from airframe and mechanical structures through full system integration. You will own the hardware roadmap and technical strategy for our drone and autonomy platforms, build and lead a multi-disciplinary team across Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Integration, and Test, and work hands-on with your team through the full product lifecycle, from concept and prototyping through flight test and high-volume production. You will set the technical bar for a team that designs rugged, high-performance hardware, builds it, flies it, breaks it, and makes it better, while partnering directly with customers to deliver on critical commitments.

At Applied Intuition, you will:

• Build, lead, and scale a multi-disciplinary hardware engineering organization spanning Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Integration, and Test

• Own the technical roadmap and architecture for all drone hardware products, from airframe and mechanical structures through full autonomy system integration

• Set technical direction on the tradeoffs between weight, strength, durability, power, and manufacturability that determine whether hardware meets mission requirements

• Drive projects through the full lifecycle, from 0 to 1 architecture and prototyping through high-volume production

• Establish and scale the engineering department and processes needed to meet committed customer deliverables on aggressive timelines

• Lead failure investigations and root cause analysis, and turn lessons learned into design and process improvements across the team

• Champion design for manufacturability, reliability, and field serviceability across the team’s work

• Hire, mentor, and grow engineering managers and individual contributors, and build a strong bench of technical leadership

• Work directly with external customers as a core responsibility, aligning technical requirements and driving customer success

• Partner cross-functionally with autonomy, software, program management, and manufacturing leaders to ensure hardware designs meet mission requirements

We're looking for someone who has:

• BS, MS, or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design, or a related technical field

• 15+ years of hardware engineering experience with 10+ years leading and scaling engineering teams or departments

• Deep, hands-on background in mechanical engineering and product design, including structural design, enclosure design, thermal management, and environmental protection for ruggedized systems

• Experience driving hardware designs through the full lifecycle, from concept and prototyping through high-volume production, with demonstrated expertise in Design for Manufacturing (DFM/DFA)

• Experience in hardware test and validation methodologies, including environmental stress screening and field or flight testing

• Proven track record of building, leading, and scaling hardware engineering organizations from the ground up

• Experience working directly with customers to align technical requirements and drive delivery on committed timelines

Nice to have:

• Background in Electrical Engineering, including PCB design, schematic capture, and power distribution systems

• Background in Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering, with an understanding of what makes an aircraft fly: aerodynamics, stability, and propulsion integration

• Direct leadership experience in drones, space, uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), or similar complex hardware products

• Blend of background in consumer electronics combined with experience in defense, automotive, trucking, construction, mining, or agriculture

• Experience executing committed deliverables for defense programs or major enterprise customers

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.