{"id":2367114,"url":"https://alion.io/job/acron-aviation-embedded-hardware-engineer-electro-optical-systems","title":"Embedded Hardware Engineer - Electro Optical Systems","company":{"id":3239135,"name":"Acron Aviation","domain":"acronaviation.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/acronaviation","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":95,"open_postings":8,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":71,"computed_at":"2026-10-13T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Sarasota, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":94000,"max_usd":175000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":1211},"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"Embedded C","optional":true},{"name":"Verilog","optional":true},{"name":"VHDL","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-12T13:59:16Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-12","last_verified_at":"2026-10-13T06:43:43Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"About Trakka Systems\nTrakka Systems is a global leader in the design, development, and manufacture of mission-critical vision, surveillance, and situational awareness solutions for airborne, maritime, and land-based operations. For more than 25 years, Trakka has delivered innovative technologies including advanced gyro-stabilized imaging systems, EO/IR sensor platforms, high-intensity searchlights, mission management and mapping software, counter-UAS solutions, and integrated surveillance systems that support defense, law enforcement, border security, search and rescue, utility, and special mission operators around the world. Trakka Systems is a member of the Acron Technologies platform of specialized companies that innovate to create safer skies and protect lives.\nTrakka Systems is seeking a hands-on Embedded Hardware Engineer to design, develop, and debug the electronics inside our airborne, land, and maritime electro-optical products. This is a bench-forward design role: you will own circuit boards from concept through schematic capture, layout, bring-up, and qualification - including real-time video processing, motor control and stabilization, serial communications, and DC/DC power regulation.\nAlongside new development, you will serve as the hardware escalation point for our production and field service teams, applying the same instrumentation and root-cause discipline to units already in the field. If you are equally comfortable in front of an ECAD tool and behind an oscilloscope, this role is built for you.\nProduct Scope:\nThe hardware you design goes into a defense- and public-safety-focused product line. Direct experience with these systems is a plus, not a prerequisite - but you should be interested in working on:\nGyro-stabilized multi-axis gimbals (2-axis and 4-axis) with EO/IR sensor payloads\nHigh-intensity searchlights (HISL) and associated high-power drive electronics\nCounter-UAS and detection systems\nAirborne, land, and maritime platform integrations, including qualification to environmental, shock/vibration, and EMI/EMC requirements\nResponsibilities:\n Hardware Design & Development\nOwn board-level design from requirements through release: architecture, component selection, schematic capture, and PCB layout for mixed-signal, high-speed digital, and power boards.\nDesign and implement circuitry for real-time video paths, brushless motor control and stabilization, serial communications, and DC/DC power regulation and distribution.\nApply disciplined power, ground, and high-speed design practice: stackup and impedance control, controlled return paths, plane partitioning, decoupling strategy, length/skew matching, and signal integrity for multi-gigabit and clocked interfaces.\nDesign for EMI/EMC, thermal performance, and environmental robustness in size-, weight-, and power-constrained enclosures.\nIntegrate and configure STM32 (and similar ARM Cortex-M) microcontrollers and FPGAs, working closely with firmware engineers on pinout, boot, clocking, memory, and interface definition.\nProduce and maintain complete design documentation: schematics, BOMs, fabrication and assembly drawings, interface control documents, and test procedures.\n Bring-Up, Debug & Validation\nPerform first-article board bring-up and power-on characterization, isolating and resolving hardware faults down to the component and signal level.\nUse the full bench toolkit daily: oscilloscopes (including high-bandwidth and mixed-signal), spectrum analyzers, logic and protocol analyzers, function generators, DMMs, power supplies and electronic loads, thermal imaging, and network/serial test tools.\nDebug and validate hardware interfaces including SPI, I²C, UART/RS-232/RS-422/RS-485, Ethernet, HDMI, SDI, CAN, USB, and LVDS/differential video links.\nMeasure and verify power rails, sequencing, ripple, transient response, efficiency, inrush, and load regulation; characterize noise coupling and grounding issues in real hardware rather than on paper.\nPlan and execute design verification testing; support EMI/EMC and environmental qualification campaigns and drive corrective design changes based on results.\n Production & Field Support\nAct as the hardware technical resource for manufacturing and service personnel - resolving build, test, and yield issues and supporting escalations that exceed technician-level diagnosis.\nDevelop test fixtures, ATE requirements, functional test procedures, and troubleshooting guides that let production and service teams diagnose faults independently.\nPerform failure analysis on returned and fielded units; determine root cause, recommend corrective action, and close the loop through engineering change orders and design improvements.\nApply design-for-manufacturability, design-for-test, and design-for-serviceability principles from the start of each project.\nProvide occasional remote or on-site support for fielded systems.\nBasic Qualifications:\nBachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline.\n5+ years of hands-on embedded hardware design experience, including schematic capture and PCB layout of production hardware.\nDemonstrated proficiency with lab instrumentation - you can independently select the right instrument, set up the measurement correctly, and interpret what you see.\nPractical design and debug experience with embedded digital interfaces (SPI, I²C, UART/RS-232/RS-422, Ethernet) and at least one high-speed video or serial interface (HDMI, SDI, LVDS, or similar).\nWorking experience designing around microcontrollers (STM32 or comparable ARM Cortex-M) and FPGAs.\nSolid grounding in power electronics: DC/DC topologies, regulation, sequencing, protection, and power/ground plane design.\nAbility to read and interpret datasheets, reference designs, and errata, and to make defensible component and topology trade-offs.\nStrong analytical and written communication skills; able to document findings clearly for engineering, production, and customer audiences.\nMust be a U.S. Person as defined under ITAR/EAR and eligible to work on export-controlled programs.\nUp to 10% travel required.\nAdditional Qualifications:\nExperience with Altium Designerand associated library and release management practices.\nBrushless (BLDC/PMSM) motor drive and closed-loop control hardware experience; familiarity with stabilization systems, gyros, encoders, or IMUs a plus\nReal-time video and imaging electronics experience (EO/IR sensors, camera interfaces, video encoders/serializers).\nFPGA design exposure (VHDL/Verilog) or close collaboration with FPGA teams on interface definition and timing closure.\nFirmware/embedded C experience sufficient to write bring-up and diagnostic code.\nFamiliarity with aerospace or defense qualification standards (e.g., DO-160, MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461) and IPC workmanship standards.\nExperience supporting fielded airborne, land, or maritime systems, or prior work with EO/IR gimbals, high-intensity searchlights, or Counter-UAS products.\nBackground in structured root-cause analysis and continuous improvement methodologies.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7073,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Avionics & Flight Control","Commercial Aviation"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-12T16:51:31Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":71,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-13T05:45:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/acron-aviation-embedded-hardware-engineer-electro-optical-systems","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/acron-aviation-embedded-hardware-engineer-electro-optical-systems.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-13T09:31:02Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":14412,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-14T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":3239135},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3239135"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Facron-aviation-embedded-hardware-engineer-electro-optical-systems"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Facron-aviation-embedded-hardware-engineer-electro-optical-systems"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Facron-aviation-embedded-hardware-engineer-electro-optical-systems"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/acron-aviation-embedded-hardware-engineer-electro-optical-systems\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Facron-aviation-embedded-hardware-engineer-electro-optical-systems"}]}