Electrical Engineering Lead

Who you are:

Are you an experienced electrical engineering leader who is passionate about building and guiding teams developing systems at the forefront of aviation technology? Do you thrive at the intersection of deep technical work and people leadership - equally comfortable setting technical direction at the whiteboard and rolling up your sleeves in the lab? Would you like to shape the engineering culture, processes, and technical direction for a new class of aircraft autonomy products? If so, you might be a good fit for the Electrical Engineering Manager / Lead role here at Merlin Labs.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of electrical engineers responsible for the electrical architecture of our aircraft autonomy system, including power distribution, communications, computing, electro-mechanical systems, control systems, and user interfaces.
• Own technical planning and execution for the electrical engineering function: define priorities, allocate resources, manage schedules, and balance competing demands across aircraft programs.
• Establish and continuously improve engineering processes, design standards, and review practices to ensure robust, certifiable designs delivered on agile timelines.
• Guide architectural decisions and design trade studies, providing technical oversight for the integration and verification of Commercial/Modified-Off-the-Shelf (COTS/MOTS) electronic subsystems.
• Review and approve electrical design and fabrication drawings, test plans and reports, and associated aircraft installation and certification documents.
• Partner with cross-functional leaders in software, systems, mechanical, certification, and flight test to align electrical engineering deliverables with program milestones.
• Recruit, hire, and onboard electrical engineers; conduct performance reviews, support career development, and foster an inclusive, high-performing team culture.
• Serve as the escalation point for technical issues in lab, field, and aircraft settings, and coordinate support for installation technicians.
• Act as the senior technical lead for the electrical discipline: personally own complex or highest-risk design problems, including power distribution architecture, signal integrity, and EMI/EMC challenges.
• Contribute hands-on to design work as needed - creating and releasing schematics, wiring diagrams, and interface control documents alongside the team, particularly during critical program phases.
• Lead root-cause investigations for electrical anomalies discovered during integration, ground test, and flight test, driving corrective actions to closure.
• Set the technical roadmap for the electrical discipline, including tooling, component standards, and reuse strategies that scale across future aircraft platforms.
• This position may require up to 25% travel, sometimes with short notice, to both domestic and international locations to support aircraft and system integration activities.

Qualifications:

• BS in Electronics, Electrical, or Aerospace Engineering; MS preferred.
• 8+ years of relevant systems-level electrical design and integration experience in the aviation and aerospace industries.
• 2+ years of direct people management experience, or demonstrated technical leadership (tech lead, project lead) with responsibility for team deliverables and mentorship.
• Deep experience integrating and debugging systems containing COTS/MOTS modules, custom circuits, software, sensors, and human/machine interfaces.
• Working knowledge of standard interface protocols such as Ethernet, ARINC 429, RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485, sufficient to guide design reviews and resolve integration issues.
• Strong command of system schematics, wiring diagrams, and subsystem block diagrams, with the ability to critically review the work of others.
• Experience with aviation/aerospace wire harness design, connector selection, and sourcing, including managing supplier relationships and lead times.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and manage engineering schedules, budgets, and resource allocation across multiple concurrent projects.
• Outstanding organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills, including experience presenting to executive leadership and external partners or regulators.

Nice to Have:

• Specific experience with aircraft systems including avionics, communications, and power distribution and management systems.
• Working knowledge of environmental qualification and regulatory requirements for commercial and military aircraft. Specifically: RTCA DO-160, DO-178, DO-254, MIL-STD-461, and MIL-STD-810.
• Experience leading teams through aircraft certification programs (e.g., FAA Part 23/25, STC efforts) and interfacing with certification authorities or DERs.
• Hands-on capability in lab, field, and aircraft settings; comfortable diving in alongside the team when needed (soldering, wiring, crimping, cable assembly build and test).
• Familiarity with design tools such as SolidWorks, Altium, or KiCAD, sufficient to review designs and set tooling standards.
• Experience scaling an engineering team in a startup or fast-growth environment.