Senior Staff Hardware Systems Engineer

Samsara (NYSE: IOT) is the pioneer of the Connected Operations™ Cloud, which is a platform that enables organizations that depend on physical operations to harness Internet of Things (IoT) data to develop actionable insights and improve their operations. At Samsara, we are helping improve the safety, efficiency and sustainability of the physical operations that power our global economy. Representing more than 40% of global GDP, these industries are the infrastructure of our planet, including agriculture, construction, field services, transportation, and manufacturing — and we are excited to help digitally transform their operations at scale.

Working at Samsara means you’ll help define the future of physical operations and be on a team that’s shaping an exciting array of product solutions, including Video-Based Safety, Vehicle Telematics, Apps and Driver Workflows, and Equipment Monitoring. As part of a recently public company, you’ll have the autonomy and support to make an impact as we build for the long term.

About the role:

Are you a builder with a relentless "owner mentality"? Do you want to do more than just execute—do you want to innovate, disrupt, and drive the creation of ground-breaking hardware from a clean sheet of paper to mass production?

We are searching for a visionary Sr. Staff Hardware Systems Engineer/Architect to join our high-impact team. This is a rare opportunity to have significant ownership and redefine an industry with products and solutions that matter. If you are passionate about building cool things at scale and thrive on leading complex projects, we want you.

This is a hybrid position requiring three days per week in our San Francisco, CA office and two days working remotely. This position requires travel up to 25% of the time and proximity to an international airport. Relocation assistance will be provided for this role. We are open to candidates residing in the U.S. who are willing and able to relocate to the Bay Area.

About the Opportunity: Architecting Disruption

This isnt a maintenance role, its a creation role. As a Sr. Staff Hardware Systems Engineer you will be the hardware systems linchpin, driving the entire product lifecycle for new, complex, and high-volume products. You will move beyond incremental improvements to ideate and innovate truly differentiated solutions by partnering directly with our customers early in the design cycle.

You will be the key driver of the hardware product lifecycle, taking complete ownership from initial concept feasibility and architecture definition through to high-volume manufacturing (Mass Production). Your decisions will directly shape the products performance, cost, and schedule.

What Youll Own and Drive:

• End-to-End Product Realization: Take command of the system architecture for our next generation of products. This includes driving deep technical feasibility studies, defining the complete system specification, and seeing it through validation, certification, and production.

• Customer-Driven Innovation: Partner directly with Product Management and our customers to deeply understand their challenges. Use this unique, direct access to innovate new products and features that solve real-world problems, acting as a trusted technical partner from the earliest stages of design.

• Executive-Level Partnership Management: Drive and manage the technical partnership with Joint Development Manufacturing (JDM) partners. You will be the primary technical interface, ensuring alignment, quality, and aggressive execution to schedule and cost goals for high-volume, global deployment.

• System Architecture Mastery: Own the EE architecture, encompassing crucial elements like chipset/SoC selection, power budgets and optimization, RF/Antenna performance, thermals, sensor integration, and PCB design, ensuring robustness against extreme environmental conditions (automotive/industrial).

• Technical Leadership: Spearhead the development process from initial prototyping, through rigorous validation and field testing, serving as the technical authority for system-level debug, desense mitigation, and bring-up.

Minimum requirements for the role:

• 5+ years of experience as a key driver shipping high-volume (scale) hardware programs, demonstrating end-to-end ownership in partnership with JDM and ODM collaborators.

• Low power design, battery technology, and optimization.

• Wireless communications (LTE/5G, BLE, Wi-Fi, GPS).

• Embedded processing, AI/ML acceleration, and imaging systems.

Deep, proven expertise in systems design across diverse use cases (e.g., automotive, industrial, outdoor) leveraging a mix of technologies:

• An unwavering track record of navigating complex tradeoffs between performance, design elegance, manufacturability, and cost, resulting in successful, scaled products.

• Expertise in product bring-up, system-level debug, and comprehensive validation (including desense, power analysis, and performance testing).

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering or a related technical field.

• Exceptional collaboration and communication skills to drive technical alignment across internal (PD, FW, EPM, NPI) and external (JDM, supply chain) partners globally.

An ideal candidate also has:

• Experience with certifications and stringent testing requirements involved with industrial and automotive settings (e.g., ISO 16750, AEC-Q100).

• Familiarity with advanced PCB design tools like Altium or Cadence Allegro.

• Experience in Design for Supply, Design for Reliability/Testing, and Design for Manufacture (DfX) principles.