Build the future of roadside safety.

Engineering · Full-time

Founding Engineer — Electrical & Systems

Who we are

Radiant Roadways is a small, hungry hardware company building the RADROAD-APEX platform — a new generation of intelligent, connected roadside safety signs. Cellular and mesh comms, solar-and-battery power, radar and multi-sensor awareness, and high-output illumination, all in one ruggedized platform designed to save lives on public roadways.

Prototypes are built. Investors are committed. Two provisional patents are filed. The DOT market is wide open and ready for a serious product. We intend to take it.

We are lean and we move fast. No layers, no theater, no committees. Engineers own their work end-to-end and ship.

The role

We are looking for a Founding Engineer to own the electrical and systems side of RADROAD-APEX. Not a cog — an owner. You will sit one chair away from the Founder/Chief Engineer and the Principal Mechanical Engineer, and your fingerprints will be on every board, every spec, and every design decision that ships.

The ideal hire is someone who can take a concept all the way through execution: napkin sketch → schematic → prototype → pilot → certification → production. We care less about which line of your résumé says “Senior” and more about whether you have actually built things, broken them, fixed them, and shipped them.

If you are an experienced EE who has owned hardware before, great. If you are earlier in your career but have a garage, a workbench, a robotics team, a senior design project that actually worked, a side business, an FSAE car, a patent, a published hack — that counts. We will weigh real evidence of ownership above years served.

What you’ll own

• The complete electrical architecture: power, comms, sensing, embedded compute, and illumination across the RADROAD-APEX product line.
• Schematic design, PCB layout oversight, BOM ownership, and design-for-manufacturability on every SKU.
• Specification, integration, and validation of cellular and mesh radios, solar/battery systems, radar and multi-sensor arrays, and LED drive electronics.
• Electrical test plans, EMC/EMI pre-compliance, environmental qualification, and regulatory certification strategy (FCC, UL, MUTCD-relevant standards).
• Direct collaboration with the Principal Mechanical Engineer on enclosure integration, thermal management, and ingress protection.
• Manufacturing process, supplier relationships, ICT/functional test fixtures, and production yield.
• Firmware architecture decisions and interface definitions, in partnership with future firmware hires.
• IP development — invention disclosures, patent claim review, and your name on filings where you contributed.

What we’re looking for

We care about evidence of ownership and execution far more than checkboxes. The list below describes the shape of a strong candidate, not a rigid filter.

Must-haves (in some form, by some path):

• You have personally taken at least one piece of real hardware from concept to working product. Professional, academic, or personal — we want to see it.
• Solid fundamentals in mixed-signal design: power electronics, embedded microcontrollers, and analog sensor interfacing.
• Comfortable with a modern EDA tool (Altium, KiCad, or equivalent) and willing to use whatever the job demands.
• Bias to action. You debug with a scope before you debug with a meeting.
• Clear communicator. You can explain a design tradeoff to a Founder, a contract manufacturer, and a DOT engineer in the same week.

Strong pluses (any combination):

• Direct industry experience taking hardware to volume production.
• Familiarity with RF/wireless systems — cellular (LTE-M / NB-IoT / 4G/5G), mesh networking, or similar.
• Battery and solar power system design, including charge management and energy budgeting for outdoor/off-grid deployment.
• EMC/EMI design practices and regulatory certification experience.
• Radar, computer-vision, or sensor-fusion work.
• High-brightness LED drive electronics or outdoor display systems.
• Prior founding or early-employee experience at a hardware startup.
• Familiarity with MUTCD, ITE, AASHTO, or related transportation/roadway standards.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license or eligibility.
• A degree in EE or a related field — or equivalent demonstrated experience. Self-taught builders with a track record are welcome to apply. If your extracurriculars (robotics, FSAE, ham radio, maker projects, patents, side ventures) show the same skills another candidate shows on a résumé, lead with them.

If you are reading this list and counting what you are missing, you are reading it wrong. Tell us what you have shipped and why you are the person to ship the next one.

Compensation — straight talk

We will not pretend this is a big-company offer. It isn’t. The trade is real: below-market cash today in exchange for meaningful ownership and the chance to put your name on a platform we intend to make an industry standard.

Raises: salary will move up — and move up quickly — as sales hit. We will not sit on a below-market number once revenue supports paying more. This is an explicit commitment, not a vague promise.

Benefits: paid time off and company holidays; flexible work schedule; reimbursement for required professional tools, licenses, and continuing education. Health insurance and retirement benefits will be established as the company scales, and the Founding Engineer will have direct input into how the package matures.

Why this role

This is not a role for someone optimizing cash compensation or chasing a title on a big-company org chart. It is a role for an engineer who wants to build the thing, own it, sign their name to it, and share in the upside when it works.

The risk is real — early-stage hardware companies are hard, and outcomes are never guaranteed. The reward, if we execute, is significant: equity in a platform aimed at a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure market, technical authority over the electrical architecture, and a seat at the table on every major decision.

Work environment & physical requirements

Work is performed in a combination of office, laboratory, and light-industrial environments. The role requires the ability to operate standard office and laboratory equipment (including electronic test equipment and soldering tools), occasionally lift and move equipment up to 40 pounds, and occasionally travel to suppliers, contract manufacturers, certification labs, and pilot deployment sites. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role.

How to apply

Send us:

• A resume or a portfolio — whichever better represents what you have actually built.
• A short note (one page max) describing one piece of hardware you have personally owned the electrical or systems design of — professional, academic, or personal. Tell us what you would do differently if you built it again, and why this role interests you.

Email info@radroad.tech with the subject line “Founding Engineer — [Your Name]”. Links to GitHub, project write-ups, patents, demo videos, or anything else that shows your work are encouraged.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis; the posting may close earlier once filled.

Equal opportunity

Radiant Roadways is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.

Radiant Roadways complies with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and the Colorado Job Application Fairness Act. Applicants are not required to disclose age, date of birth, or dates of attendance or graduation from an educational institution on initial application materials.