Senior Electrical Engineer

07 Oct Senior Electrical Engineer

About

BlackSwift designs and delivers advanced unmanned aerial systems and mission-enabling technologies for demanding operational environments. The company is known for technically rigorous aircraft development, rapid engineering execution, and deep experience supporting aerospace, defense, research, and specialized field operations where reliability, flight performance, and disciplined delivery matter.

BlackSwift’s work spans aircraft design, system integration, flight operations, and the practical engineering required to move from concept to flight-ready capability. The company operates close to the hardware, close to the mission, and close to the realities of certification, airspace access, customer delivery, and field execution.

BlackSwift is powered by KrateoSky which reflects a shared commitment to building trusted autonomous aerial systems with stronger operating discipline, modern engineering workflows, and AI-native execution. Through this connection, BlackSwift is part of a broader effort to scale reliable, mission-ready autonomy with the rigor, speed, and systems thinking required in regulated and mission-critical environments.

This is an opportunity to do consequential work alongside experienced leaders, help build a category-defining platform, and solve hard engineering and operational challenges that matter in the real world. As an AI-native organization, KrateoSky is also building an environment where modern tools, automation, and connected systems help teams move faster, reduce manual work, and focus their energy on the highest-value problems. For people who are motivated by mission, energized by building, and excited by the chance to combine speed, rigor, and intelligent automation, KrateoSky offers the opportunity to have outsized impact on technology, operations, and the future of trusted autonomy.

Position Summary

BlackSwift is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer to provide senior-level electrical design ownership for UAS avionics, mission-system electronics, and associated ground hardware. This role exists to strengthen in-house execution across flight-critical and mission-supporting electronics as BlackSwift advances aircraft and system capabilities from concept through integration, verification, and deployment.

This is a hands-on senior individual contributor role with meaningful technical ownership. You will lead complex analog and digital design work, drive sound engineering tradeoffs across performance, reliability, power, packaging, and manufacturability, and help ensure BlackSwift’s electrical designs are robust enough for demanding operational use. The role includes responsibility for schematic quality, layout review, electrical verification and validation, and practical problem-solving during bring-up and integration.

You will work closely with firmware, RF, mechanical, systems, integration, and flight-test stakeholders to turn requirements into flight-ready avionics and mission-system hardware, including compute, navigation, telemetry, and payload-adjacent electrical interfaces as appropriate. You will also help raise the overall capability of the electrical function by mentoring less-experienced engineers and contributing to stronger review discipline, documentation quality, and development rigor. In line with BlackSwift’s AI-native operating model, this role is expected to use modern automation and AI-enabled tools to reduce manual work, accelerate iteration, and improve engineering throughput and decision quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Electrical Design Ownership: Own senior-level electrical design for UAS avionics and associated ground hardware, from requirements interpretation and architecture decisions through detailed implementation and release readiness.
• Analog and Digital Circuit Development: Design and refine analog, digital, and mixed-signal circuitry for embedded and avionics-oriented applications, including power, interfaces, sensing, control, and subsystem integration.
• Schematic and Layout Review: Lead schematic reviews and PCB layout reviews to ensure designs meet requirements for signal integrity, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, and environmental robustness.
• Verification and Validation: Define and execute electrical V&V plans, including bench characterization, functional verification, failure investigation, and documented closure of design issues and test findings.
• Bring-Up and Debug: Perform hands-on board bring-up, root-cause analysis, and troubleshooting using standard lab equipment, driving timely resolution of issues discovered during integration, test, or field support.
• Avionics and Mission Systems Integration: Support electrical integration of flight-control boards, onboard compute, navigation hardware, telemetry pathways, and mission-system electronics into reliable, flight-ready subsystems.
• Navigation and Communications Interfaces: Contribute to integration of inertial systems, timing sources, GNSS and GPS-denied navigation hardware, telemetry links, and command-and-control interfaces in coordination with firmware, RF, and systems teams.
• Cross-Functional Integration: Coordinate closely with firmware, RF, mechanical, systems, integration, and flight-test teams to align electrical interfaces, onboard compute constraints, telemetry pathways, packaging, thermal performance, and overall mission-system behavior.
• Reliability, Environmental Suitability, and Design Discipline: Design and validate hardware with attention to environmental robustness, maintainability, serviceability, logging, diagnostics, telemetry visibility, and field reliability in operational UAS environments while reinforcing strong review, configuration-control, and release discipline.
• Mentorship and Technical Guidance: Mentor the Electrical Engineer II and engineering intern through design reviews, technical coaching, and practical guidance on analysis, implementation, and debugging.
• Hardware Documentation and Release Readiness: Produce and maintain clear design documentation, interface definitions, test artifacts, and release packages that support integration, manufacturing, and sustainment.
• Electrical Interfaces and Release Readiness: Define and maintain board-level and subsystem-level electrical interfaces, including connectors, harnessing, signal routing, and power distribution considerations, and produce design documentation, test artifacts, and release packages that support integration, manufacturing, and sustainment.
• AI-Enabled Engineering Execution: Use AI and automation tools in practical ways to improve documentation quality, accelerate analysis and review cycles, reduce repetitive engineering work, and increase overall execution speed without sacrificing rigor.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related technical field.
• 6–10 years of relevant experience in electrical engineering, with substantial hands-on ownership of complex hardware development for aerospace, UAS, robotics, or similarly demanding applications.
• Deep experience in analog and digital circuit design for embedded, avionics, mission-system, or other mission-critical electronic systems.
• Demonstrated ability to take avionics or embedded hardware designs from concept through schematic capture, layout review, bring-up, debug, subsystem integration, and verification.
• Strong practical experience with bench testing and debug using standard electrical lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power supplies, and digital multimeters.
• Experience supporting hardware intended for fielded, regulated, safety-critical, high-reliability, or otherwise mission-critical use where disciplined execution matters.
• Ability to work effectively across firmware, RF, mechanical, systems, and integration teams to resolve issues involving board-level interfaces, sensor integration, power distribution, connectors and harnessing, and hardware/firmware boundaries and move hardware to release.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to document decisions, present technical tradeoffs, and contribute effectively in design reviews.
• Demonstrated use of AI and automation as productivity multipliers in engineering workflows, with a practical instinct to eliminate manual work and improve throughput.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing avionics, flight-control boards, mission-computing hardware, navigation interfaces, or UAS electronics deployed in demanding operational environments.
• Experience with telemetry, command-and-control, datalink, or other communications-adjacent electrical interfaces and effective collaboration with RF engineering on integrated system designs.
• Experience with embedded hardware/firmware integration, board-level interfaces, power distribution, and debugging across electrical and firmware boundaries.
• Experience with ground hardware, support electronics, mission-enabling hardware, or payload-adjacent electronics associated with aircraft operations and system deployment.
• Experience supporting environmental qualification, field reliability, and maintainability testing for hardware intended for deployed use.
• Experience supporting transition from prototype hardware into repeatable manufacturing or low-rate production.
• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical field.

Location(s): Boulder, CO.

Reports To: BlackSwift Chief Technology Officer

Travel: Up to 25%

Base Salary Range:

Security Clearance: Due to the nature of this role and the work performed, candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Defense security clearance, as required for the position.

Export Control Requirements: This position must meet U.S. export control compliance requirements. To meet U.S. export control compliance requirements, a “U.S. Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. §120.62 is required. “U.S. Person” includes U.S. Citizen, U.S. National, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee.

Equal Opportunity: BlackSwift is an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions based on lawful, job-related qualifications, merit, and business need, and do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic under applicable federal, state, or local law. We are committed to building an inclusive workplace where employees with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can contribute and succeed. BlackSwift is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and to applicants who require accommodation during the recruiting, application, or interview process, consistent with applicable law. If you need assistance or an accommodation, please let us know.

Compensation & Benefits: The total compensation package for this role includes base salary and may also include eligibility for annual bonus, incentive compensation, and/or equity, depending on role level, experience, skills, qualifications, and work location. In addition, BlackSwift offers a competitive benefits package, which may include medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement benefits, paid time off, and other employee benefit programs, subject to plan terms and eligibility requirements. Any posted compensation range reflects the good-faith estimate of base salary for this role at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, skills, education, certifications, internal equity, market data, and geographic location. BlackSwift reserves the right to modify compensation, benefits, and other terms of employment in accordance with applicable law.