Hardware Engineer

Hardware Engineer (Founding Team)

Travel : ~50% to real construction sites

About Crewline AI

Crewline AI is building the world’s most advanced construction company by retrofitting heavy equipment—bulldozers, excavators, dump trucks—with plug-and-play perception and teleoperation kits. In just months, we’ve gone from zero to live deployments, generated $220K ARR, and raised $5.5M from top-tier investors and 20+ unicorn founders.

Construction is facing a global labor crisis. Our mission is to rebuild society’s ability to shape the world—making housing affordable and restoring large-scale building capability. We move fast, deploy constantly, and solve real problems in the field while competitors stay stuck in autonomy R&D.

Join a team of second-time founders who scaled their last company to $30M ARR in under 2 years—and help define the future of construction robotics.

Role Overview

We’re hiring a

Hardware Engineer

to design and deploy rugged, reliable perception and teleoperation systems for autonomous heavy equipment. This is a hands‑on, 0→1 role for someone who loves building real hardware, debugging in the field, and shipping product that survives harsh environments.

You’ll split roughly

50% of your time on construction sites —traveling in our company RV, integrating hardware on machines, running tests, and iterating fast. If you want to work in a quiet office all day, this is not the role.

What You’ll Do

Design and develop teleoperation and autonomy hardware —including power systems, compute modules, and control electronics for heavy machinery retrofits.

Integrate, calibrate, and validate advanced sensor suites

(LiDAR, radar, GNSS / RTK, IMU, stereo / mono cameras).

Create robust wiring harnesses, enclosures, and sensor / actuator mounting systems

built for harsh, vibration‑heavy environments.

Implement and debug communication protocols

such as CAN, LIN, J1939, Ethernet, Serial, and GMSL.

Lead system bring‑up and HIL testing , working closely with software and perception engineers.

Prototype rapidly —3D printing, machining, modifying hardware directly on machines.

Deploy frequently

to active construction sites and iterate hardware based on real operational feedback.

Influence core engineering processes , from DFM to reliability testing to field diagnostics.

What Makes You a Great Fit

Experience (2–10 years)

in robotics, autonomous vehicles, heavy machinery, industrial automation, or other electromechanical systems.

Electrical + mechanical integration (harness design, power distribution, sensor mounts, enclosures).

Interfaces like CAN, LIN, J1939, Ethernet, Serial, GMSL.

Bonus signals

Prior founding engineer or startup 0→1 experience (successful or not).

Demonstrated ownership, grit, and comfort with extremely fast iteration cycles.

What We’re Looking For (Mindset)

You prefer

building hardware over planning it .

You thrive in unpredictable real‑world environments.

You love turning messy field problems into clean engineering solutions.

You take extreme ownership and ship fast.

You want your work deployed on machines shaping real construction sites.

What We’re Not Looking For

Someone who wants a desk‑only, office‑first job.

Someone coming from a slow, legacy autonomous machinery program (e.g., large OEMs with years‑long roadmaps).

Why Join

Founding role with meaningful ownership (1–3% equity).

Work on a mission with massive societal impact.

No bureaucracy—your work shows up on machines in the field within days.

SF office with full electronics lab, metal shop, and 3D printing station.

100% paid top‑tier health / dental / vision + 401k contribution.

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