Director Electrical Engineering

Who we are

Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America’s drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.

As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We’re hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.

What you will be doing

Neros is seeking a highly technical and strategic Head of Electrical Engineering to lead all electrical engineering functions, systems, and processes across the company. In this role, you will architect the team structure, define and continuously evolve the electrical design lifecycle, and drive system-level development of complex hardware systems including embedded platforms, RF communications, and autonomy-enabling technologies.

As the most senior authority within the Electrical Engineering organization, you will be accountable for technical direction, execution excellence, resource planning, and alignment with company-wide priorities. You will collaborate closely with Principal and Senior Engineers to evaluate technical feasibility, make informed trade-offs, and serve as the final decision-maker on both short-term deliverables and long-term strategy. You will act as the primary conduit for relaying engineering progress, risks, and needs to the executive team, ensuring Neros’ hardware roadmap is delivered on time, within budget, and at the highest technical standard.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Strategy

• Own and define the organizational structure of the Electrical Engineering team, including headcount planning and hiring decisions.

• Set the long-term vision, technical roadmap, and immediate priorities for all electrical engineering efforts at Neros.

• Serve as the final decision-maker on technical trade-offs and direction, under advisement from Principal Engineers.

• Act as the Responsible Engineer, ensuring that all initiatives hit their deadlines and stay within budget.

Engineering Process & Execution

• Define, implement, and continuously refine the full electrical engineering design lifecycle—including design phases, reviews, DFM/DFT gates, and release criteria.

• Oversee system-level development of all electrical systems, ensuring robust integration across product lines.

• Conduct regular reviews of project timelines, resource allocation, and milestone tracking.

• Ensure optimal workload distribution across engineers and proactively resolve resourcing bottlenecks.

Team Management & Communication

• Lead 1:1 meetings with Principal (and Senior) Engineers bi-weekly to assess job performance, development, and satisfaction.

• Write and present monthly and annual status reports for all electrical engineering projects to the executive team.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for relaying complex technical information to the executive team in a clear and concise manner.

Hiring & Talent Development

• Review all electrical engineering job descriptions; add, remove, and define roles based on organizational needs.

• Define key skillsets and candidate profiles for new hires and actively participate in the recruiting and interview process.

• Foster a high-performance, accountable, and collaborative engineering culture.

You should have the following

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.

• 10+ years of electrical engineering experience, with at least 5 years in technical leadership roles.

• Strong experience of system-level electrical design, including embedded systems, power electronics, RF Systems, PCB development, and hardware integration.

• Hands-on experience with RF systems (e.g., antennas, wireless communication protocols, EMI/EMC considerations).

• Exposure to autonomous systems and experience supporting the electrical infrastructure for sensors, compute platforms, and real-time decision-making architectures.

• Proven experience leading engineering teams through full product development cycles, from concept to production.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical information to executive stakeholders clearly and effectively.

Nice to have

• Experience with RF digital communications, including modulation schemes, digital signal processing (DSP), link budgeting, and implementation of wireless protocols (e.g., Wi-Fi, BLE, LoRa, UWB).

• Experience with BLDC (Brushless DC) motor control systems, including driver circuitry, feedback integration, and control algorithms.

• Familiarity with drone or UAV platforms, especially in areas such as power distribution, communication links, flight control hardware, and autonomy-related electrical systems.

• Experience in ASIC or FPGA design and development, including RTL design, synthesis, verification, and system integration.

• Background in sensor hardware for autonomous systems (e.g., GPS, IMU, camera systems).

• Proficiency in high-speed digital and mixed-signal PCB design, with focus on signal integrity, timing, and layout best practices.

• Prior experience in scaling engineering teams or building engineering functions within startup or high-growth environments.

• Familiarity with PLM and CAD systems, hardware version control, and structured documentation (e.g., Altium, Git, Teamcenter).

US Salary Range

$100,000 - $400,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.