Harmattan AI

Electrical Engineer (Tooling) at Harmattan AI (Paris, France)

Harmattan AI· Paris, France·

Role details

Work type
Onsite
Employment
Full-Time

Harmattan AI at a glance

France's first defense-tech unicorn, building attritable AI-piloted strike, interception, and ISR drones for allied militaries.

Harmattan AI is a vertically integrated defense prime building autonomous drone systems for allied militaries. It designs the full stack, from airframes and payloads to embedded compute and the autonomy algorithms that let drones sense, decide, and act at the edge without GPS or a network link, coordinated across a swarm by its mission-orchestration layer.

$242M raised · latest: Series B · $200M · January 2026 · backed by Dassault Aviation, FirstMark Capital, Atlantic, Motier Ventures

Job description

About Us

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces. Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.

Overview

Harmattan AI is scaling multiple hardware programmes and needs internal tooling to help the engineering teams develop and validate products faster. The new R&D Hardware Tooling team builds the rigs, fixtures, and instrumentation that accelerate design, bring-up, characterisation, and validation across every hardware product. These are development and validation tools used in the lab and in R&D workflows — not production test equipment for a manufacturing line. This role owns the electronics of those tools end-to-end: breakout and interface boards, instrumentation and DAQ hardware, signal-conditioning and debug-access boards, and RF characterisation fixtures. Unlike product electronics optimised for cost at volume, tooling electronics prioritise measurement accuracy, flexibility, robustness, and fast turnaround.

Ideal candidate A hardware engineer who has designed instrumentation, breakout, or DAQ electronics – or product PCBs – and now wants to build the tools. Rigorous on schematics, layout, and bring-up, with a strong instinct for measurement integrity and quick, reconfigurable designs. Comfortable working autonomously in a small team and able to bridge hardware and firmware, working closely with the tooling software engineer.

Required skills

  • PCB schematic and layout design (Altium Designer preferred)
  • Mixed-signal design: power, MCU interfaces, comms buses (SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN)
  • Instrumentation / DAQ / breakout design (signal conditioning, measurement front-ends)
  • RF / controlled impedance / EMC — nice to have
  • Hardware bring-up and bench debug; measurement integrity and calibration
  • Component selection and BOM for low-volume, high-mix tooling

Responsibilities:

  • Schematic Design — design mixed-signal, power, and RF instrumentation and breakout boards.
  • PCB Layout & Routing — layout with attention to signal integrity, measurement accuracy, EMC, and (where relevant) controlled impedance and RF traces.
  • Fixture & Interface Design — design device-under-development interfaces (breakouts, interposers, connectors, signal access) that are reliable and easy to reconfigure as designs change.
  • Component & Instrument Selection — choose components and decide COTS instrument vs. in-house board; build BOMs for low-volume, high-mix tooling.
  • Bring-up & Debug — lead fixture bring-up; debug with oscilloscope, spectrum/logic analyzer, and bench equipment.
  • Measurement Integrity & EMC — ensure accuracy, grounding, shielding, and signal integrity; manage calibration where needed.
  • Collaboration with Tooling SW — define hardware/software interfaces; support fixture-firmware and instrument-control bring-up.
  • Collaboration with Tooling Mech — integrate boards into rigs and benches (mounting, actuation, connectors, thermal, shielding).
  • Collaboration with Product Teams — capture each product's development and validation measurement needs.
  • Documentation — maintain schematics, layouts, fixture build docs, and calibration/measurement procedures.

We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.

Why work at Harmattan AI

  • Culture: “Elite builders” who “thrive on complexity, move with urgency, and own their work end to end.” Emphasis on purpose, technical excellence, and real‑world impact. harmattan.ai
  • Values: Tackle the hardest problems, build what matters, move at the speed of relevance, and aim to redefine frontiers. harmattan.ai
  • Work policy: Hybrid model with a mix of remote and on‑site; many roles are in‑office at locations in Paris, Lausanne, London, Arlington (TX), Wissous, Poland, UAE, and Morocco. builtin.com
  • Engineering culture: Hands‑on development of mission‑critical autonomous systems; strong R&D focus across AI, computer vision, RF hardware, propulsion, and mission planning.
  • Perks: Not explicitly listed, but the company highlights the opportunity to protect front‑line personnel and shape the future of autonomous defence.

Application questions