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 o