Hardware Tech Lead (CNTXT AI)

Location: Abu Dhabi UAE
Employment Type: Full-time

About the role
CNTXT AI builds egocentric and teleoperation data infrastructure for humanoid robotics and embodied AI.
This role owns our hardware end to end. You will spec our egocentric capture suite select and manage vendors and design hardware hands-on. You will also build CNTXTs own hardware IP. This is a hands-on tech lead role: you set the technical direction for hardware and guide the engineers and contractors working on it.

Key responsibilities
Ego capture suite: specification and architecture

• Write system requirements and the full spec for our wearable egocentric capture platform: head-mounted cameras IMUs EMG/biosignal sensors hand and head-pose tracking audio storage power and thermals.
• Set camera requirements: FOV resolution frame rate shutter type lens distortion and low-light performance.
• Design multi-sensor time synchronisation (hardware triggering shared clocks timestamping) so streams align at capture not in post-processing.
• Trade off data quality against wearability battery life unit cost and manufacturability for a large distributed contributor base.
• Define the interface to our data pipeline so device output maps cleanly into capture formats such as MCAP.

Vendor evaluation and management

• Map the market for capture devices sensor modules ODMs and contract manufacturers.
• Build scored evaluation frameworks and run bake-offs on real captured data not datasheets.
• Recommend build buy or partner decisions with clear technical and commercial reasoning.
• Run vendors through pilot NRE EVT/DVT/PVT and volume supply; hold them to spec quality and delivery dates.

Hands-on hardware design

• Own or closely review schematics and PCB layouts for prototypes and custom boards.
• Write and debug embedded firmware for sensor capture sync and data offload.
• Bring up boards and characterise performance: latency clock drift noise sync accuracy power draw.
• Build test fixtures calibration rigs and incoming-QA tools for devices in the field.

Hardware IP

• Spot patentable ideas in sensing synchronisation calibration and wearable form factor.

Technical leadership

• Set up the hardware lab tools BOM management design reviews and hardware version control.
• Lead design reviews break down work and mentor engineers and contractors on hardware tasks.
• Help interview and onboard hardware engineers as the work grows.

What were looking for
Experience and leadership

• 7 years in hardware engineering with at least one device taken from concept through mass production.
• Direct experience managing ODMs or contract manufacturers including in China or Southeast Asia: NRE negotiation factory audits yield issues.
• A record of writing product requirement documents and hardware specs that others built against.
• Has run structured vendor or component selections and can defend the choice with data.
• Comfortable being the go-to hardware expert: designing debugging and making technical calls without a large team around you.
• Has technically led engineers or contractors on a hardware project: design reviews task breakdown mentoring.
• Communicates trade-offs clearly to non-hardware leaders and to commercial partners.
• Degree in Electrical Electronics or Computer Engineering or equivalent experience. A masters is a plus not a requirement.

Nice to have

• Robotics sensing teleoperation rigs or data-capture hardware for ML training.
• Depth and stereo cameras eye tracking or hand-tracking hardware.
• Haptics or wearable actuators.
• Signal processing background (filtering sensor noise modelling RF).
• Existing network of component suppliers and manufacturers in Asia.

Why this role is interesting

This is an opportunity to build hardware from the ground up for embodied AI and humanoid robotics.
You will have significant ownership over the hardware architecture make key technical decisions work directly with manufacturing partners and help create proprietary hardware technology rather than simply maintaining an existing product.

Apply and Join Us Today!