Founding Electrical Engineer

About this role

ABOUT THE ROLE

This is a founding-level hardware role at a Y Combinator–backed startup building an AI-powered wearable in the emotional intelligence space. The company — a small, fast-moving team of five — is developing a consumer wrist device that reads real-time emotional states using a proprietary AI inference model across audio and biometric signals. Prototypes are already on users' wrists.

As the Founding Electrical Engineer, you will own all things electronics — from schematic to board layout to production handoff. You'll work directly alongside the founder (an ex-Apple hardware product designer) and have a defining impact on the product as the company scales. This is a high-ownership role with meaningful equity.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

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

- Drive rapid hardware iteration across device revisions in a fast-paced, prototype-heavy environment

- Lead consumer hardware from functional prototype through to mass production

- Collaborate closely with firmware and mechanical teams to ensure tight hardware integration

- Define and uphold electrical engineering standards and processes as the team grows

- Take on a leadership role in the hardware org as the company scales

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Required

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

- Demonstrated track record of shipping physical, consumer-grade hardware products

- Strong background in consumer electronics and embedded hardware

- Experience integrating sensors (biometric, audio, or similar) into compact form-factor devices

- Comfort operating at the pace of an early-stage startup — iterating quickly, wearing multiple hats

Nice to Have

- Experience at a consumer electronics company (wearables, mobile hardware, or similar)

- Background taking devices from EVT/DVT/PVT through to mass production

- Familiarity with low-power design and BLE/wireless integration in compact hardware

- Experience with signal processing or biosensor hardware

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

- Base salary: $150,000 USD annually

- Equity: Up to 1–2% (founding-level grant)

- Seed-stage company backed by Y Combinator (S26)

LOCATION

This is an on-site role, with San Francisco also considered. The primary listed location is New York, NY, USA.

Visa sponsorship: No new visa sponsorship is available. H-1B transfers are accepted.