Hardware Technician

About City Detect

City Detect harnesses AI and computer vision to revolutionize urban management by using sensors to map the physical world and help communities respond to issues and track longitudinal changes. Founded in 2021, we recently raised a Series A and are actively partnering with major municipalities across Texas, California, Florida, and beyond to create cleaner, safer, and more livable cities. We value responsible practices, cutting-edge innovation, and collaborative community partnerships as we scale our platform and shape the future of urban living through technology.

We're seeking a detail-oriented Hardware Technician to join our hardware team. Your core mission: make sure every installation, maintenance visit, or deployment goes right the first time. That starts before you ever leave the warehouse; the more thoroughly a job is planned and prepped in-house, the smoother the on-site work will go. This means owning your toolkit, reviewing the install plan and asking questions ahead of time, assembling and testing hardware before it ships and you are familiar with it; everything to make sure what you you need is packed and available to you when you get to the site. It also means leading other technicians when a job calls for it, and always looking to improve how the team works.

What You'll Do

• Prepare for success before you get to a site: review install plans in advance, ask questions, assemble and test hardware, and confirm your toolkit and all materials are packed and shipped ahead of time
• Own the full lifecycle of an installation or maintenance job, performing on-site work across a diverse fleet nationwide (refuse/recycling trucks, consumer vehicles, fixed installations)
• Act as on-site lead for larger jobs, supervising and coordinating outsourced installation partners or other technicians to keep the process consistent and high quality
• Work with warehouse staff to keep hardware assembly, material usage tracking, and documentation up to date
• Identify gaps or inefficiencies in your own process and address them. Share recurring issues and improvement ideas with the team so the whole organization benefits, not just your own jobs
• Follow warehouse and installation safety and cleanliness standards
• Help train and onboard new staff or installation partners as we grow

Requirements

• 2+ years of experience as a technician in a mobility industry (automotive, transportation) or similar (automotive manufacturing, test engineering)
• Solid working knowledge of basic vehicle systems and automotive electrical fundamentals
• Hands-on experience with mechanical assembly, wiring, and electro-mechanical tools (multimeters, calipers, heat gun, etc.)
• Familiarity with deploying GPS, camera, or other electronic, customer-facing systems
• Strong self-sufficiency: comfortable planning ahead, anticipating what a job needs, and troubleshooting when something is missing or incorrect on-site
• Ability to adapt to many different customer vehicle types and install requirements without losing attention to detail
• Solid organizational and communication skills, written and verbal, including the ability to lead or direct other technicians on-site
• A valid driver's license
• 50% travel to customer installation sites, 50% in-house assembly, preparation, and test drives

Nice to Have

• Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Robotics, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering or a related field
• Experience with embedded systems, real-time systems, or Linux, especially as related to data collection or self-driving systems
• Experience with CAD software (Autodesk, SolidWorks, Catia, etc.) and prototyping (3D printing, sheet metal fabrication, vacuum forming)
• Experience with supply, production, and equipment tracking systems (BOMIST, Odoo, etc.)
• Knowledge of materials, machining, and other hardware creation processes and limitations

Compensation

The base pay range for this role is $50,000 - $80,000 per year.