Research Engineer

Do you read papers on declassified military experiments for fun?

Are you fearless, but self-aware enough to know when to de-risk and maintain consistent progress?

Do you thrive with intimidatingly interdisciplinary and underexplored problems?

Mission

Mithras is developing an experimental autonomous system to supply resource targets to mining, geothermal, and other subsurface industries within the next 5 years. This means developing the roadmap for $12 trillion of minerals, 700 million tons of copper concentrate, and enough H2 to replace 5.4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. In other words, we want to deliver on the promise of electrification and assist in moonshot interventions to stabilize climate systems.

This role is ambitiously interdisciplinary. It will require reinventing a field that's been dormant for 40 years, miniaturizing it, working across long-duration sensing systems in the ground and sky, and scaling it to build a new subsurface map for Earth. This is a challenging multi-scale system, that will turn scientific research into controlled engineering systems.

Responsibilities

• Assemble, wire, and test aircraft electronics modules ranging from Arduino dev boards to precision quantum sensors.
• Construct and test wire harnesses. Assemble, rework, and test PCBs and modules.
• Embedded development. Connect and configure sensor modules, flight computers, motor controllers etc. Work with uCs and SBCs like Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
• Design and construct weather-proofed, thermally, EMI shielded enclosures.
• Assist with rapid prototyping of custom test and fabrication equipment.
• Electrical testing, EMI testing, regression analysis, calibration.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience as an electrical technician/engineer or equivalent projects you can show us.
• Confident soldering (through-hole and SMD rework), crimping, and connector work. Can read a schematic and a mechanical drawing.
• Comfortable with hand tools, drill press, bandsaw, and 3D printers.
• Demonstrated balance of rigor and urgency.
• Willing to travel for field campaigns in remote areas, lift heavy UAVs, and work outdoors.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• General fabrication.
• Experience with electronic test equipment (oscilloscopes, DMMs, spectrum analyzers) and basic scripting to automate a test.
• Trailer towing, generators, and camp logistics.

Logistics & Applying

Mithras is located on the border of San Francisco and Brisbane, California. Work is 100% on site, with travel for field campaigns.

Pay range: $120,000.00 - $160,000.00 per year, to be determined on a case-by-case basis based on job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience. Equity can start at 0.5-2.5%.

Mithras is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Mithras is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Apply

Email founders@mithrasindustrial.com with photos and videos of things you have built: harnesses, aircraft, instruments, shop projects, repairs. We care more about what you have built than where you have worked. Include a short note on why this role and a short resume.