Senior Electrical Engineer, Robot Controller Hardware
- Fremont, CA, United States
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Job details
- Posting language
- English
- Posted
Original job description
ABOUT DEXMATE
Dexmate is building robot platforms and a universal Physical AI OS to make robots easier to build and deploy. We combine hardware and software into a plug-and-play platform for developers, researchers and enterprises, with an open ecosystem that supports the development of physical AI.
THE ROLE
We are looking for a Senior Electrical Engineer to design the onboard controller hardware for Dexmate’s robot platforms. You will own multi-processor architectures integrating NVIDIA Jetson modules, x86 hosts, and supporting MCUs, along with the sensor interfaces, networking, synchronization, and power systems that connect them.
This is a hands-on board design role spanning architecture, schematics, PCB development, bring-up, validation, and production release. You will work closely with software, systems, mechanical, thermal, and manufacturing engineers to turn robot requirements into reliable controller hardware.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Define controller hardware requirements with software and systems teams, including processing needs, sensor connectivity, interface bandwidth, synchronization, power budgets, and environmental constraints.
- Architect multi-processor controller platforms integrating Jetson modules, x86 hosts, and MCUs. Define processing boundaries, inter-processor communication, peripheral connections, and dependencies across power, clock, reset, and boot domains.
- Design custom carrier boards for NVIDIA Jetson modules, including AGX Thor, following platform design requirements and validating implementation on physical hardware.
- Evaluate compute platform options, including NVIDIA Jetson, Qualcomm robotics platforms, and x86 processors, against robot performance, power, thermal, packaging, and lifecycle requirements.
- Own schematic design, component selection, and PCB development for controller motherboards, carrier boards, and associated interface electronics. Execute layout or provide detailed technical direction and review.
- Design and validate high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, multi-gigabit Ethernet, USB, MIPI CSI-2, and camera SerDes links. Define stackups, impedance targets, routing constraints, grounding, and return paths.
- Design onboard networking and hardware time synchronization between processors, cameras, and sensors, working with software engineers to verify system behavior.
- Develop board-level power architectures, including DC-DC conversion, sequencing, transient response, protection, monitoring, and fault reporting.
- Analyze signal and power integrity risks, correlate assumptions with bench measurements, and resolve interface instability and power-related failures.
- Lead board bring-up with embedded software engineers, debugging boot, reset, clocking, processor communication, peripheral enumeration, and sensor connectivity.
- Define and execute validation plans covering interface performance, sustained workloads, power cycling, temperature, supply variation, and fault recovery.
- Partner with mechanical and thermal engineers on connectors, cables, cooling, and packaging; support EMI/EMC testing and corrective actions.
- Work with manufacturing and test teams on DFM/DFT reviews, prototype builds, production test coverage, component substitutions, and production release.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of electrical hardware design experience with embedded processor systems, high-speed digital electronics, or similarly complex products, including at least one board taken through bring-up and production release.
- Hands-on design of at least one custom NVIDIA Jetson carrier board, taken through board bring-up.
- Demonstrated ownership of processor-based motherboards, system-on-module carrier boards, or comparable complex multilayer PCBAs, from schematic design through validation.
- Experience designing hardware interfaces between processors, compute modules, MCUs, and peripherals, including power, reset, clocking, and boot dependencies.
- Strong schematic design skills and proficiency with Altium, Cadence, or equivalent tools, with experience defining and reviewing high-speed PCB layouts.
- Practical experience designing and debugging multiple high-speed interfaces, such as PCIe, Ethernet, USB, MIPI, or camera SerDes.
- Strong understanding of signal and power integrity, including transmission lines, impedance discontinuities, return paths, decoupling, and power distribution networks.
- Experience designing processor or compute-module power supplies, including regulator selection, load transients, sequencing, and protection.
- Strong bench debugging skills using oscilloscopes, appropriate probing techniques, logic or protocol analyzers, and programmable power supplies.
- Experience working with embedded software engineers to diagnose hardware/software interface issues and verify fixes on physical hardware.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with NVIDIA Jetson AGX Thor or AGX Orin, including carrier-board implementation, platform bring-up, and power and thermal integration.
- Experience integrating multiple processor families within one controller platform, such as ARM with x86, or application processors with real-time MCUs.
- Experience with Qualcomm robotics platforms or chip-down designs using Qualcomm SoCs, PMICs, and LPDDR.
- Experience designing controller hardware for robots, autonomous vehicles, drones, or other systems constrained by power, space, and operating environment.
- Experience with discrete processor and DDR memory integration, including layout constraints and timing validation.
- Experience integrating multiple cameras and sensors over GMSL, FPD-Link, or multi-gigabit Ethernet.
- Experience implementing hardware time synchronization using IEEE 1588/PTP or gPTP.
- Experience with HDI PCB design, dense BGA fanout, and signal or power integrity simulation using tools such as HyperLynx, Sigrity, or Ansys.
- Familiarity with embedded Linux, JetPack, pinmux and device tree configuration, boot diagnostics, and scripting for hardware validation.
- Experience with EMC pre-compliance testing, environmental qualification, production test development, and manufacturing ramp.
More about this job
Skills
- Communication skills
- Robotics
- Packaging
- Printed circuit boards
- Reporting
- Debugging
- EMI
- DFT
- Design hardware
- Ansys
- Linux
- Regulatory compliance