{"id":127489,"url":"https://alion.io/job/apptronik-staff-electrical-engineer-sensor-fpga-and-pcb-aggregator","title":"Staff Electrical Engineer - Sensor FPGA","company":{"id":47983,"name":"Apptronik","domain":"apptronik.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/apptronik","size_band":"501-1000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":80,"open_postings":22,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.591,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":77,"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"staff","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Sunnyvale, United States","Austin, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":202000,"max_usd":372000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":563},"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Siemens ModelSim","optional":false},{"name":"Verilog","optional":false},{"name":"VHDL","optional":false},{"name":"Xilinx Vivado","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-17T20:09:18Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-13","last_verified_at":"2026-10-27T23:51:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":71,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":71},"description":"Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life. Our flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate thoughtfully with people, starting with critical industries such as manufacturing and logistics, with future applications in healthcare, the home, and beyond.\nWe operate at the cutting edge of Applied AI, applying our expertise across the full robotics stack to solve some of society's most important problems. You will join a team dedicated to bringing Apollo to market at scale, tackling the complex challenges like safety, commercialization, and mass production to change the world for the better.\nJOB SUMMARY\nWe're looking for a Staff Electrical Engineer to architect the electronics for Apollo’s sensor bridge. Strong candidates will have experience with FPGA hardware for both PCBA design and RTL development. This role works closely with the perception team to give Apollo sight and enable critical safety functions. This role owns the full electrical and FPGA stack of one board, end to end: requirements, architecture, schematic capture, layout guidance, RTL, bring-up, validation, and the transition to production.\nESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES or KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES\nElectronics & FPGA Architect from Concept to Production: Own requirements definition, part selection, schematic capture, layout guidance, and RTL architecture for a multi-Gbps, mixed-signal PCBA that aggregates camera sensor data and human-robot interface functions into an efficient cable interface routed across dynamic joints. Carry the design from architecture through prototype, validation, and manufacturing release. Generate and maintain design documentation: block diagrams, schematics, RTL architecture docs, test plans, and fab/assembly drawings.\n High-Speed & Mixed-Signal Hardware Design: Design and validate high-speed digital interfaces (CSI-2, GMSL2/FPD-Link/PoC, 10GbE) including signal integrity, impedance control, and length-matching. Architect the board's power tree for proper power sequencing and low-power consumption. Design for EMC, ESD, and thermal constraints.\n FPGA Device Selection, Architecture, and RTL Development: Define FPGA device selection and architecture for the sensor bridge node(s). Develop RTL (VHDL/Verilog) for CSI-2 ingest, Ethernet packetization, timestamp/metadata insertion, and camera synchronization for deterministic multi-camera and multi-IMU synchronization. Own timing closure, clock-domain crossing, and resource/power budgeting within the FPGA. Select and integrate high-speed transceivers and external PHYs.\n Validation, Bring-Up, and Debugging: Develop and execute validation plans spanning board-level and FPGA-level testing. Build test fixtures and use lab equipment (high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, logic analyzers) to validate latency, bandwidth, and synchronization requirements. Debug across the hardware/RTL boundary - link training failures, timing violations, ISP misconfiguration, power sequencing faults - using rigorous, first-principles root-cause analysis.\n Lifecycle Management & Vendor Alignment: Own the entire component lifecycle through PLM systems, managing third-party relationships with hardware vendors and contract manufacturers (CMs) to ensure successful production scaling and design-for-manufacturability (DFM/DFA).\nCross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including technical lead, project managers, software, mechanical, thermal, systems engineers, and manufacturing. Act as a mentor within the electrical engineering team, guiding junior engineers on best practices for hardware design, documentation, and troubleshooting.\nTechnical Leadership: Drive project execution with leadership, program management, and engineering peers. Define component roadmaps with product managers, systems engineers, and technical leads. Lead debugging and root cause analysis related to hardware and software defect resolution. Align technical implementation and execution with company goals. Drive consensus with stakeholders on critical design and compliance decisions. Provide work breakdowns and time estimations to inform project execution.\nSKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS\nStrong, demonstrated depth in FPGA hardware design for time-sensitive, high-performance applications (image processing, high-speed data acquisition, real-time networking, or similar), including:\nFPGA device selection and architecture definition\nRTL development in VHDL and/or Verilog\nHigh-speed interface design (CSI-2, GMSL/SerDes, Ethernet, PCIe, or comparable)\nTiming closure, clock-domain crossing, and resource optimization\nIntegration of high-speed transceivers and external PHY devices\nFPGA tool flows (Vivado, Quartus, or Lattice Radiant) and simulation (ModelSim/Questa or equivalent)\nDeep understanding of high-speed digital design fundamentals: signal integrity, impedance-controlled routing, differential pairs, stack-up, and timing analysis across the board-to-FPGA boundary.\nExperience with camera/image sensor hardware: SerDes (GMSL, FPD-Link, or similar), MIPI CSI-2, and ISP integration - automotive or robotics vision systems strongly preferred.\nExperience with Ethernet-based sensor streaming and sensor bridges.\nExcellent communication (verbal & written); will be expected to develop detailed build assembly instructions and diagrams.\nExcellent problem-solving and hardware debugging skills. Hands-on experience with prototyping and testing, including the use of lab equipment.\nDrive Through Influence: Exceptional ability to lead technical initiatives and align cross-functional stakeholders without direct reporting authority, using empirical data from the lab to drive decisions.\nAbility to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment where \"perfect\" is the enemy of \"shipped,\" knowing exactly when a design is robust enough for the real world.\nTravel up to 10% within US and internationally.\nEDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE\nBachelors, Masters, or PhD degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.\nAt least 8 years of experience in Electrical Engineering.\nPHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS \nProlonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer\nMust be able to lift 15 pounds at times\nVision to read printed materials and a computer screen\nHearing and speech to communicate\nCompensation: The annual salary range for this position is $244,000-270,000.\n*This is a direct hire. Please, no outside Agency solicitations. \nApptronik provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6906,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Robotics AI","Robotic Components & Sensors","Humanoid Robots"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-08-17T20:09:18Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 23","filings_12m":23,"filings_prev_12m":20,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":157500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":1}],"liveness":{"score":43,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.576,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":70,"expected_fill_days":77,"reasons":["conf:0","stale_co","velocity","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/apptronik-staff-electrical-engineer-sensor-fpga-and-pcb-aggregator","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/apptronik-staff-electrical-engineer-sensor-fpga-and-pcb-aggregator.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-28T00:37:52Z","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":707,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-29T00:00:00Z"}},"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":47983},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=47983"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fapptronik-staff-electrical-engineer-sensor-fpga-and-pcb-aggregator"},{"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%2Fapptronik-staff-electrical-engineer-sensor-fpga-and-pcb-aggregator"},{"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%2Fapptronik-staff-electrical-engineer-sensor-fpga-and-pcb-aggregator"},{"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/apptronik-staff-electrical-engineer-sensor-fpga-and-pcb-aggregator\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fapptronik-staff-electrical-engineer-sensor-fpga-and-pcb-aggregator"}]}