Owns released electrical hardware across its lifecycle, including PCB and system-level changes, troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, ECR/ECO execution, configuration control, verification testing, component qualification, production support, and field sustainment. The role drives improvements in reliability, manufacturability, testability, serviceability, cost, and electrical integration while collaborating with engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, support, software, mechanical, test, and suppliers.
Who We Are
At Firestorm, we’re on a mission to revolutionize how defense solutions are designed and delivered. Our goal is to empower U.S. ally nations to effectively deter aggressors—regardless of their defense budget—through innovative, cost-efficient technologies. We call this vision “democratized deterrence.” As a VC-backed company at the intersection of defense and Silicon Valley, we’re pioneering the development of mission-adaptable aerial vehicles that put power back into the hands of operators. By prioritizing operator effectiveness, we’re pioneering a new era of aerial vehicle design. We aim to upend the traditional defense procurement model by delivering world-class capabilities at a fraction of the usual cost. Join us at Firestorm as we redefine defense procurement, making cutting-edge technology accessible to all at a fraction of the cost.
About the Role
The Sustaining Electrical Engineer owns released electrical hardware throughout the product lifecycle, spanning PCB and system-level design, production scaling, field support, and continuous improvement. The focus is keeping products reliable, manufacturable, testable, serviceable, and cost-effective as they scale and evolve in the field.
This role is ideal for an engineer with strong technical judgment and hands-on problem-solving skills who enjoys taking ownership of complex hardware and driving ambiguous problems through validated solutions. This position may be filled at the Senior or Staff level based on experience, technical depth, and demonstrated scope of ownership.
- Design and implement electrical changes across schematics, PCBAs, power distribution, wiring, interfaces, and supporting hardware.
- Own electrical sustainment of released products from production ramp through field support and end-of-life, serving as a key technical point of contact for electrical integration.
- Troubleshoot PCBAs, electronic assemblies, wiring, power systems, and integrated hardware down to the component level across production and fielded systems.
- Drive root-cause investigations for production, test, and field failures and implement corrective and preventive actions through analysis, design changes, and validation.
- Own ECR/ECO execution and maintain released design documentation and configuration control within PLM systems, including schematics, BOMs, wiring diagrams, drawings, test procedures, and configuration records.
- Define and execute verification, regression, and reliability testing for sustaining changes, alternate components, and product improvements.
- Support production and NPI transitions by addressing test failures, yield issues, assembly risks, manufacturability, testability, and electrical integration challenges.
- Evaluate component substitutions, obsolescence, and supplier-driven changes, and own the technical qualification of alternate parts and materials.
- Drive electrical system tradeoffs across size, weight, power, EMC, reliability, manufacturability, and integration constraints, including high-power components and distribution architectures.
- Partner with Product Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Customer Support, firmware, software, mechanical, test, and suppliers to improve product quality, reliability, serviceability, and cost.
- Contribute to design reviews and drive continuous improvement across the released product portfolio.
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 3+ years of professional experience developing or sustaining complex electrical hardware; level will be determined based on experience and scope of ownership.
- Strong hands-on lab and debugging skills using standard electrical test equipment, with the ability to isolate failures to the circuit or component level.
- Familiarity with hardware configuration control, ECR/ECO workflows, PLM systems, and released-product documentation practices.
- Working knowledge of DFM/DFT, hardware reliability, production test, and the considerations required to transition and sustain hardware at scale.
- Strong fundamentals in analog, digital, and power electronics, with demonstrated experience owning full-cycle PCB development.
- Strong technical communication and cross-functional collaboration skills, with the ability to manage ambiguity and multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Must be a U.S. Person as defined by applicable U.S. export control laws and regulations.
- Base salary: $130,000 - $145,000
- Equity: Meaningful equity grant in a growth-stage defense technology company
Similar Jobs
Fintech • Machine Learning • Payments • Software • Financial Services
Leads product management for Capital One’s Consumer and Developer Experience organization. Oversees strategic pillars including developer experience, AI tools and platforms, marketing and messaging delivery, experience platforms, and enterprise supplier and operations products. Drives customer-centered product strategy, technology-enabled innovation, business outcomes, cross-functional alignment, and transformational leadership across consumer-facing digital products and enterprise platforms.
Top Skills:
Artificial Intelligence (Ai)Platform InfrastructureUi/Ux
Fintech • Machine Learning • Payments • Software • Financial Services
Design, build, deploy, scale, and monitor production machine learning systems. Develop models, application code, data pipelines, cloud architectures, automated tests, and CI/CD processes. Collaborate with Product and Data Science teams, ensure high availability and performance, govern models for risk and responsible AI, and lead teams developing ML solutions.
Top Skills:
SparkAWSAzureContinuous DeploymentContinuous IntegrationDaskData PipelinesGoogle Cloud PlatformJavaMachine LearningPythonPyTorchScalaScikit-LearnTensorFlow
Fintech • Machine Learning • Payments • Software • Financial Services
Design, develop, deploy, and support foundational AI systems, including model training, LLM inference, similarity search, guardrails, evaluation, governance, experimentation, and observability. Optimize large-scale AI systems for performance, scalability, latency, throughput, hardware utilization, and cost. Shape the technical vision and roadmap for foundational AI platforms while collaborating with engineers, research scientists, technical program managers, and product managers. Lead technical innovation and influence cross-functional stakeholders.
Top Skills:
AWSAws UltraclustersAzureC#C++GoGCPHugging FaceJavaLarge Language ModelsNemo GuardrailsPythonPyTorchScalaSimilarity SearchVectordbs
What you need to know about the Los Angeles Tech Scene
Los Angeles is a global leader in entertainment, so it’s no surprise that many of the biggest players in streaming, digital media and game development call the city home. But the city boasts plenty of non-entertainment innovation as well, with tech companies spanning verticals like AI, fintech, e-commerce and biotech. With major universities like Caltech, UCLA, USC and the nearby UC Irvine, the city has a steady supply of top-flight tech and engineering talent — not counting the graduates flocking to Los Angeles from across the world to enjoy its beaches, culture and year-round temperate climate.
Key Facts About Los Angeles Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 375,800; 5.5% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Snap, Netflix, SpaceX, Disney, Google
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, adtech, media, software, game development
- Funding Landscape: $11.6 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Strong Ventures, Fifth Wall, Upfront Ventures, Mucker Capital, Kittyhawk Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: California Institute of Technology, UCLA, University of Southern California, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Quantum Science and Engineering
