Goal of This Role

This is the core technical role for Lucid Bots' power tether program - one of our most critical new product development efforts. You'll own the drone tether power system end to end, responsible for reliably delivering approximately 7,000 W continuously (with transient peaks up to 10,000 W) from the ground power source, down the tether, and into the drone's propulsion and avionics. You'll work alongside a team of talented electrical, mechanical, firmware, and test engineers, and your output will show up in hardware that ships to real customers in the real world. This is not a "design it and hand it off" role, you'll own it from architecture through validation.

What You'll Do

• Design the high-voltage DC power transmission architecture for the tether, including selection of transmission voltage to minimize conductor mass and resistive loss over tether length.
• Design and specify DC-DC conversion stages (step-up at the ground station, step-down onboard the drone), targeting high efficiency at 7 kW continuous load.
• Size tether conductor gauge, insulation, and connectors for continuous current plus 10 kW peak inrush, with appropriate derating and safety margin.
• Define current limits, protection thresholds, and coordinate over-current and fault behavior with the onboard power distribution.
• Own thermal management of converters, connectors, and cabling across the full load range.
• Integrate the power system with the drone's ESCs and flight controller, ensuring stable behavior during peak transients and load steps.
• Coordinate with mechanical engineering on the tether reel, strain relief, and cable routing, and with safety and compliance staff on high-voltage standards, grounding, and arc-flash mitigation.
• Produce schematics, power budgets, test plans, and design documentation for design reviews.

Who You Are

• You hold a Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical Engineering, or you have equivalent hands-on experience that tells the same story.
• You've shipped multiple electronics products to production. That's how we think about seniority here: not years on a resume, but hardware you've taken from concept to the real world.
• You have proven experience designing power electronics in the multi-kilowatt range, including DC-DC converter design. You've owned the design, not just contributed to it.
• You have working knowledge of high-voltage DC systems, conductor sizing, and thermal management from real systems you've built and validated.
• You've integrated power systems with three-phase motor drives and ESCs, and you understand how those interfaces behave under load.
• You're comfortable with electrical safety standards, grounding design, and protection design.

Bonus If You Have:

• Experience with tethered drones, UAV power systems, or long-cable power delivery
• Familiarity with EMI/EMC design and mitigation
• Hands-on prototyping, bring-up, and bench validation of power hardware
• Background in EV motor controller design or high-voltage DC power routing

Why Join Lucid Bots?

• Work directly with the founder of a fast-growing, venture-backed robotics startup.
• Be part of a team solving real-world problems with frontier technology.
• Get a front-row seat to fundraising, company building, and startup strategy at scale.
• Learn more in one year than most people do in five-this is a career accelerant.
• Help support the culture, pace, and systems of a company scaling fast and building things that matter.

Benefits:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 3% retirement match
• 15 days of paid time off (PTO)
• 3 sick days
• 11 paid holidays, with 3 of those being floating holidays
• Employee stock option plan

Additional Notes

This role is hybrid at our Charlotte, NC headquarters. We're a hands-on engineering team building real hardware. We work best when we're together.

We'd Love to Hear from You!

Don't just apply. Stand out.

The Reality: On paper, many resumes look the same. We don't hire paper; we hire people. While a video is technically optional, it is the single best way to separate yourself from the stack.

The Promise: This is not a black hole. If you take the time to record it, we will take the time to watch it.

What to Send (2 mins max) Please do not read a script. Do not worry about editing or production value. Just open your camera and talk to us.

• Why here? Why are you excited about Lucid Bots specifically?
• Why you? What is the one thing about you that a resume can't capture?

If you want the highest probability of an interview, send a video.