Founding Electrical Engineer

About the Role

This is a founding-level electrical engineering position at a Y Combinator–backed startup building a next-generation AI-powered wearable in the consumer emotional intelligence space. The company is early-stage (fewer than 10 people), has prototypes already on users' wrists, and is moving fast toward production. The founder brings deep consumer hardware experience from one of the world's most recognized device makers.

As the Founding Electrical Engineer, you will own the full electronics stack for the wearable device — from schematic capture and PCB layout through to manufacturing. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role with a path to leading the hardware engineering org as the company scales.

What You'll Do

• Own end-to-end electrical and PCB/board design for the wearable device

• Iterate rapidly through hardware revisions, balancing speed and quality

• Drive the consumer hardware from prototype stage through to mass production

• Collaborate closely with the founder and cross-functional team on product requirements, sensor selection, and form-factor constraints

• Define and build out electrical engineering processes and standards as the team grows

What We're Looking For

Required

• 3+ years of hands-on experience in board/PCB design

• Demonstrated track record of shipping physical consumer electronics products (end-to-end, prototype to production)

• Proficiency with embedded hardware, sensors, and consumer electronics constraints (size, power, cost)

• Comfortable working at a fast pace in a small, high-accountability team

Nice to Have

• Experience with wearable or body-worn devices

• Background in biometric or audio sensor integration

• Experience scaling hardware from DFM through to contract manufacturing

Visa: No new visa sponsorship. H-1B transfers are welcome.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary: $150,000 USD annually

• Equity: Meaningful founding equity (up to 1–2%)

• Opportunity to grow into a hardware engineering leadership role

Location

On-site in New York, NY (San Francisco also considered). This is not a remote role.