Senior Hardware Systems Engineer

The Role

We are looking for a senior hardware engineer to own the safety and electrical integration of Peer Robotics’ current product range. Should be well versed with PLC, encoders, safety sensors, brakes, motor drivers, battery, charging, wiring, validation, and certification support.

This is not a design-only or coordination-only role. We need someone who can debug real robot issues, make hardware decisions, document them clearly, and drive closure with the hardware, software, manufacturing, supplier, and certification teams.

What You'll Own

• Safety PLC integration, including personnel detection, e-stop, velocity/position monitoring, safety stop, restart/recovery behavior, and PLC-to-robot communication.
• Encoders, safety sensors, safety LiDAR/ADAR, brake controller, motor driver, and limit switch integration.
• Electrical reliability for robot and charging systems: CAN wiring, shielding, grounding, connectors, DC-DC converters, BMS/charger interfaces, and harness routing.
• Root-cause debugging physical robots and bench setups for issues like encoder slippage, safety brake recovery delays, motor driver faults, false detections, and charging/CAN failures.
• Validation before production or shipment: PDI checks, safety validation tests, wiring checks, payload/speed checks, and evidence needed for certification.
• Practical documentation: wiring diagrams, firmware update procedures, test plans, failure history, root-cause notes, and handover documents that another engineer can actually use.

What We're Looking For

Must-have:

• 3+ years of hands-on hardware/electrical integration experience in robotics, AGVs/AMRs, industrial automation, EVs, or safety-critical machines.
• Strong fundamentals in wiring, harnesses, shielding, grounding, connectors, fusing, power distribution, batteries, chargers, and DC systems.
• Practical PLC experience, preferably Siemens/TIA Portal or SICK safety PLC / safety sensor systems.
• Experience integrating safety components such as e-stops, safety scanners, safety sensors, relays/PLCs, brake controllers, and motor-drive interfaces.
• Strong debugging ability on physical hardware, including intermittent issues that require measurements, logs, bench replication, and supplier follow-up.
• Familiarity with CAN/CANOpen, Ethernet-based PLC communication protocols, encoder interfaces, and digital/analog IO.
• Ability to create clear test plans, wiring diagrams, checklists, and technical documentation.

Strong plus:

• Experience with ISO 3691, CE, NRTL/UL, TUV, or industrial safety certification.
• Experience with autonomous pallet jacks, forklifts, warehouse robots, or heavy mobile platforms.
• Experience with RoboteQ or similar motor controllers, safety brake controllers, SICK/Sonair/safety sensing systems, or safety sensor configuration.
• Battery/BMS and charger integration experience.

First 90 Days

• Understand and document the current Peer3000 safety and electrical architecture.
• Take ownership of the highest-risk open issues: safety brake recovery, encoder/safety-system behavior, false detections, charging/CAN reliability, and certification blockers.
• Build bench or robot-level tests to reproduce intermittent failures and close them with clear evidence.
• Create the missing practical documentation: PLC update procedure, wiring/harness diagrams, safety test cases, PDI checklist updates, and known-failure history.
• Lead a hardware readiness review before the next production build or shipment.