Head of Engineering

About the Role

We are an early-stage wearable sensing startup building a body-worn sensing platform at the frontier of hardware engineering. This is a pivotal moment for the company, and we're looking for a technically deep, hands-on Head of Engineering to own technical execution from architecture through shipping — while leading a distributed team across India and San Francisco.

You'll be based full-time in India and travel to San Francisco approximately one week per month. This role is for someone who thrives at the intersection of systems thinking, embedded hardware, and team leadership — and who has a proven track record of shipping real products into real users' hands.

Note: This role is open to US citizens and US visa holders only. Visa sponsorship is not available.

What You'll Do

• Own end-to-end technical execution of a body-worn sensing platform — from system architecture through production shipment.

• Lead and coordinate a distributed team of hardware, firmware, and mechanical specialists across India and San Francisco.

• Make weekly design and integration decisions across power systems, sensor synchronization, firmware/embedded Linux, and mechanical structure.

• Define and maintain the complete hardware system architecture, ensuring all subsystems integrate coherently into a wearable product.

• Translate product requirements into clear, precise engineering briefs for the distributed team to execute against.

• Review and critique mechanical designs with engineering justification, focusing on wearability, durability, and real-world deployment constraints.

• Debug firmware and system-level issues using schematics, logic analyzers, and serial logs.

• Shape hiring criteria and interview processes to grow overall team capability.

• Own meaningful systems from day one and measure direct impact on product quality and model capabilities.

What We're Looking For

Dealbreakers (all required):

• US citizen or US visa holder.

• 6+ years of hardware engineering experience focused on wearable hardware, robotics, motion capture, or field-deployed devices.

• Hands-on experience designing multi-rail battery-powered hardware, including power protection circuits, regulator topology selection, and ability to analyze inrush/brownout behavior on first power-on; must be comfortable reading schematics.

• At least one hardware product shipped from first prototype to real users.

• Willing to live in India and travel to San Francisco approximately one week per month.

Required:

• Experience operating as a staff, principal, or founding engineer — not solely as an engineering manager.

• Proven ability to lead distributed teams across time zones and maintain engineering quality without daily in-person presence.

• Deep expertise in sensor synchronization across mismatched sample rates and variable bus latencies, including firmware-level timestamping and diagnosing real misalignment in datasets.

• Firmware and embedded Linux experience: bringing up SoM/SBC platforms, debugging timing, interrupt, and buffer issues.

• Strong mechanical judgment: able to critique load paths, tolerance stack-up, strain relief, and wearable-specific requirements.

• Strong communication skills with a demonstrated ability to translate product needs into precise engineering briefs and influence hiring decisions.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with supply chain and vendor management for hardware components.

• Experience with regulatory compliance (UL/IEC) for wearable devices.

• Experience shipping hardware at scale, including mass production and manufacturing handoff.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $140,000 – $210,000 USD annually

• Competitive equity in an early-stage company at a pivotal growth stage

• Regular travel to San Francisco (approximately one week per month) covered by the company

Location

This is a full-time, on-site role based in India. You will travel to San Francisco, CA, USA approximately one week per month to collaborate with the local team. Candidates must already be located in or willing to relocate to India.