Avionics & Electrical Engineer

Haast Autonomous is building an autonomous aircraft network for time-sensitive medical logistics. We’re developing long-range VTOL aircraft, autonomy software, and the operational foundation needed to move critical payloads between hospitals, labs, and healthcare facilities on-demand faster and more reliably.

We’re early, small, and moving quickly. Joining now means you'll have a direct role in shaping the foundation of Haast — our culture, engineering process, testing discipline, partner relationships, and the path from prototype to a real medical logistics network.

We’re looking for high-agency people who want ownership, urgency, and system-level impact from day one.

The Role

Haast is seeking an Electrical Engineer to own the avionics, power-distribution, communications, and electrical integration architecture of our aircraft.

You will design reliable electrical systems for high-power electric VTOL aircraft, translate system requirements into schematics and harness documentation, select and validate components, and support aircraft through assembly, ground testing, and flight testing. This role combines electrical design, systems engineering, hands-on integration, and rapid troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

Design the aircraft’s avionics and electrical power architecture

Develop system block diagrams, schematics, wiring diagrams, connector pinouts, and harness drawings

Size and select wiring, connectors, fuses, contactors, power-distribution components, regulators, and protective devices

Integrate flight controllers, propulsion systems, batteries, sensors, radios, navigation systems, actuators, payload systems, and onboard computers

Design electrical interfaces for high-voltage propulsion and low-voltage avionics systems

Develop grounding, shielding, isolation, and EMI/EMC strategies

Perform voltage-drop, current, thermal, power-budget, and failure-mode analyses

Define electrical requirements, interface-control documents, and acceptance-test procedures

Design or oversee the development of custom PCBs, interface boards, power-distribution boards, and test equipment

Conduct bench testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing, ground testing, and flight-test support

Diagnose electrical, avionics, communications, and power-system failures

Work closely with mechanical, aerospace, controls, software, manufacturing, and flight-test engineers

Review technician-built harnesses and electrical assemblies for compliance with engineering documentation

Manage component obsolescence, lead-time risks, design changes, and configuration control

Build scalable electrical design, verification, and documentation processes

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, mechatronics, or a related field

Experience designing and integrating electrical or avionics systems

Strong understanding of power electronics, embedded systems, digital communications, and electrical protection

Ability to create and review schematics, wiring diagrams, pinout tables, and engineering drawings

Experience using oscilloscopes, multimeters, logic analyzers, power supplies, electronic loads, and other laboratory equipment

Experience troubleshooting complex electrical systems at the component and system levels

Ability to work directly with hardware and support hands-on aircraft integration

Strong technical documentation and configuration-management habits

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with electric aircraft, drones, robotics, automotive systems, spacecraft, or other safety-critical hardware

Experience with high-voltage and high-current lithium battery systems

Experience integrating motors, ESCs, battery-management systems, contactors, and power-distribution units

Experience with CAN, DroneCAN, UART, SPI, I²C, Ethernet, RS-232, or RS-485

Experience with PX4, ArduPilot, CubePilot, or similar autopilot ecosystems

Experience designing PCBs in Altium, KiCad, OrCAD, or a similar platform

Familiarity with EMI/EMC testing and aerospace grounding and shielding practices

Familiarity with environmental qualification, electrical derating, FMEA, and fault-tolerant design

Understanding of aviation development standards such as DO-160, DO-254, or SAE aerospace practices

Experience taking an electrical system from prototype through low-rate production

What Success Looks Like

The aircraft electrical architecture is safe, understandable, testable, and maintainable

Power and avionics systems operate reliably throughout ground and flight testing

Interfaces are thoroughly documented and electrical changes are configuration-controlled

Failures are diagnosed quickly and addressed through durable design improvements

Prototype electrical systems evolve into repeatable production-ready assemblies

We care more about agency, ownership, taste, and evidence that you can build than whether you match every bullet point. If you have worked on aircraft, drones, robots, vehicles, rockets, or other hard technical systems and want to help build something from the ground up, we want to hear from you.