Hire Hardware Engineers

Time to shortlist is typically 2 weeks from scoping call. Total time to placement (shortlist through offer acceptance) is typically 3–5 weeks. Seats that require an active Secret or TS clearance, deep space-radiation experience, or relocation to a remote production or test site can run a week or two longer.

Most US Hardware Engineers at defense-tech and space companies land between $115K and $160K base depending on metro, board complexity and clearance. Senior and Staff Hardware Engineers who own architecture and reviews typically run $160K–$210K, and Principal or Hardware Lead seats $200K–$250K, often with meaningful equity at venture-backed defense-tech companies and a 10–20% bonus at primes. These are market bands; we confirm live market bands during scoping.

In this market, “Hardware Engineer” means a product electronics designer: schematics, PCB layout, bring-up and qualification of boards and boxes that ship inside a vehicle, munition or satellite. An Electrical Engineer on our facilities and construction side designs power distribution, switchgear and building systems. Both hold a BSEE; the work, tools and references are completely different, and we scope which one you mean on the call.

A Power Electronics Engineer specializes in converters, motor drives and high-power stages where magnetics, switching losses and thermal design dominate. An FPGA Engineer writes and closes the RTL that runs on the board. The Hardware Engineer owns the board itself — the power tree, the digital and analog circuitry, the layout and the bring-up — and works alongside both. On small defense-tech teams one engineer often covers hardware plus light power or FPGA work; we scope that overlap explicitly.

Altium is the default at most defense-tech and space companies and we verify proficiency on real design files, not a checkbox. Engineers from Cadence, Mentor or KiCad shops transition in weeks; what does not transfer quickly is judgment on stack-ups, derating and bring-up. We weight verified board outcomes above the tool, and scope Altium-only if your library and release process require it.

Nearly every defense-tech and space hardware seat requires U.S.-person status under ITAR, and we confirm it before introduction. We scope clearance level (Secret, TS, TS/SCI) on the call and only introduce candidates who meet it; clearable-but-not-cleared engineers are introduced only when you tell us the program can wait for adjudication.

Every placement carries a replacement guarantee. If the hire leaves or is released within the warranty window, we run a replacement search at no additional fee. Warranty terms are set in the engagement agreement and depend on the hire path you choose.

Yes. For a new product line, a factory stand-up or a company moving from EDU to rate production, we staff the whole electronics layer — Hardware Engineers, RF Engineers, Power Electronics Engineers, FPGA Engineers and Electrical Manufacturing Engineers — through embedded recruiting support or an RPO engagement. Single retained searches run through aerospace and defense engineering search.