Senior Staff Hardware Engineer, Sensor Architecture

About the Role:
Wing is looking for a Senior Staff Sensor Architect to join our Hardware Engineering Team. This role is Hybrid based in Palo Alto, CA. 

As a Senior Staff Sensor Architect, you will be a pivotal technical leader within our Hardware Engineering organization. This is a highly critical role partnering with the overall hardware team and perception team on the development and design of our future-generation delivery aircraft. Because sensors are the eyes and ears of our autonomous fleet, the decisions you make will define the efficiency, quality, performance, and scalability of Wing's future systems.

You will act as the central authority leading our sensors roadmap, sensor architecture, driving the vision from early concept through mass production. Candidates should have a breadth of experience across sensors from visual, radar, acoustic, optical, and other sensors to make a  high  impact on our future aircraft designs.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead the end-to-end architectural definition and technical roadmap for Wing’s sensor systems across both aircraft and ground operations.
• Lead cross-functional trade studies across hardware, software, and manufacturing teams, translating ambiguous product goals into rigorous system-level requirements.
• Evaluate, select, and integrate sensor components by navigating extreme SWaP-C (Size, Weight, Power, and Cost) constraints. 
• Develop comprehensive mathematical performance models, error budgets, and link budgets to guide hardware board design and software algorithm development.
• Architect characterization, calibration, and validation protocols to guarantee robust sensor performance across highly diverse and punishing environmental conditions.
• Collaborate intimately with manufacturing and contract partners to design scalable, automated calibration and high-volume QA test systems.
• Identify, prototype, and champion emerging sensor technologies to keep Wing at the bleeding edge of autonomous flight.
• Manage deep technical relationships and drive customized component designs with external sensor partners, Tier 1 suppliers, and foundries.

What You’ll Need:

• 15+ years of deeply technical experience in sensor architecture, hardware systems engineering, or complex sensor integration.
• A track record of taking complex hardware or sensor subsystems from early R&D through high-volume commercial manufacturing.
• Experience in RF technologies, such as UWB, LTE, wifi, ads-b.
• Mastery in at least two sensor modalities critical to autonomous navigation (e.g., vision/cameras, LiDAR, radar, IMUs, GNSS/GPS, or barometers).
• Proven ability to build mathematical performance models and define error budgets for complex sensor data pipelines.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, Mechatronics, or a directly related field (or equivalent practical experience).