R&D Hardware Prototyping Engineer
7 hours ago
London
R&D Hardware Prototyping Engineer (Hardware Whisperer 🌊⚙️) Significant equity + salary available for this role London Please note this role is not live right now but is going live shortly, I thought this period would be a good time to catch people and maybe even have an initial chat. Location: London with occasional UK & international site visits Foundational role for an entrepreneurial builder The Opportunity This is not a maintenance role. This is not a “design it and hand it off” role. This is a from-zero-to-ocean role. You’ll be the person who turns bold ideas into working marine hardware - sketching, building, testing, breaking, fixing, and deploying real-world systems that operate in some of the harshest environments on Earth. If you love rapid prototyping, field testing, and seeing your work floating offshore (or bolted to a buoy in rough seas), this role was written for you. What You’ll Do You’ll own early-stage hardware development end-to-end, including: • Rapidly prototyping, assembling, and testing marine hardware - buoys, sensor housings, mooring systems, and edge compute units, • Integrating, calibrating, and validating sensors (salinity, temperature, pressure, optical; e.g., CTDs, YSI EXO-class systems) to ensure reliable, high-integrity data, • Designing and iterating waterproof enclosures, solar power systems, and sensor layouts built for extreme marine conditions, • Collaborating closely with software, robotics, and oceanography specialists to ensure designs survive real-world deployment, • Sourcing marine-grade components, managing small-batch fabrication, and coordinating 3D printing or machining, • Documenting designs, iterating fast, and supporting field trials in the UK and overseas Who You Are You’re hands-on first, theoretical second. • Strong experience building and testing real hardware, not just CAD models, • Deep understanding of embedded systems, sensors, and marine/weatherproofing best practices, • A true maker: engineer, hacker, inventor, and field tester rolled into one, • Comfortable working in workshops, labs, harbours, and offshore environments Nice-to-haves (not required): • Small solar systems and lithium battery design, • LoRa, 4G, or low-power telemetry, • Familiarity with maritime standards or regulations Why Join • A mission-driven role at the intersection of oceans, climate, and frontier technology, • Flexible, remote-friendly working with travel to stunning coastal R&D sites, • A genuine opportunity to shape core hardware IP from day one, • Direct collaboration with a visionary founding team, • meaningful equity ownership