Founding Hardware Engineer

THE SHORT VERSION We're putting real AI on the chips inside physical security hardware. Not a cloud dashboard with an "AI" badge slapped on it. Models running on the SoC, in the panel, on the wall, making decisions in milliseconds without phoning home. Nobody is doing this yet. We're first, and we'd like you to come build it with us. WHY THIS IS EPIC The physical security industry runs on hardware designed in the 2000s, protocols designed in the 1990s, and business models designed to sell you the same beige box every ten years. Access control, alarm panels, readers, power supplies: siloed, and blind to what's actually going on in a building. Flux is building the first security platform that's AI-native from the silicon up - not an afterthought. Inference baked into silicon, so hardware can spot a tailgate, a forced door or a failing battery the moment it happens, not weeks later after someone reviews the logs. Modules that click together instead of being wired in. Hardware that keeps working when the cloud doesn't. Software defined security that evolves in-situ. The pitch to customers is simple: a panel that understands what it's seeing, and takes action before an attack occurs, not one that just logs it after the fact. The pitch to you is simpler: nobody has done this before, so there's no reference design to copy. You get to make one. THE ROLE You'll be Flux's founding hardware engineer: the first hire on the hardware side, reporting directly to the founder, with end-to-end ownership of the physical product from prototype to certified unit. The scope will evolve as the product does, but the core responsibilities are: • Platform hardware Take our Linux SoM Cortex-A cores and secure Cortex-M module controllers from working prototypes to a product a customer can install. • Board design Own schematic capture, PCB layout, board bring-up and design validation, including mixed-signal and switching power. • Power and interconnect Design and validate the integrated power system, battery charging and monitoring, and the hot-swappable module bus. • Edge AI Get embedded models running on-device and characterise where the compute budget really lands. • Compliance Drive thermal, EMC, RCM and AS/NZS safety work, and lay the groundwork for UL listing. • Product definition Help decide what we build, in the lab, with real measurements, alongside the founding team. • Foundations Set up the lab, the tooling and the engineering practices the hardware team will inherit. The first few people in a startup define how it works for years. You'll shape the hardware, the firmware, the process and the team that comes after you. That's the opportunity. THE HONEST BIT This is a startup. A real one, pre-revenue (but funded), with a small team and a big ambition. That means: • The work is irregular Some weeks are a glorious deep-dive into one problem. Some weeks are five problems at once and a demo on Thursday. • Nobody will hand you a spec. You'll write it, or figure out that we don't need one yet. • Some days you're designing a power stage. Some days you're on the phone with a connector supplier, reading a 400-page standard, or driving to Jaycar because we need it today. • Things will break, including things you built, in front of people. But we've got your back. We need a self-starter. Someone who hits a wall and goes digging through datasheets, errata, forums, and reference designs until they find the answer, then tells us what they found. Someone who is comfortable being wrong, fixing it, and moving on. If you want a role with a clear scope, a mentor sitting next to you, and someone to escalate to when things get hard, this isn't it. Nobody here will hold your hand. We'll back you, we'll argue with you, and we'll get out of your way. WHAT YOU'LL BRING We care more about what you've built than what your degree says. That said, here's what the role needs. Essential • Board design Proven schematic and PCB design experience, including mixed-signal and switching power. You've taken boards from concept to fab to working hardware, more than once. • Embedded systems Hands-on with embedded Linux and bare-metal MCU development. You can bring up a SoM, write a driver and debug a bootloader that won't boot. • Lab skills Comfortable with scopes, logic analysers, rework and the occasional magic smoke. • Compliance awareness Some exposure to EMC, electrical safety, RCM or UL, and what each does to a design. • Curiosity about edge AI You don't need to be an ML engineer, but you should want to understand how models run on constrained hardware. • Self-direction You find answers in datasheets, errata and reference designs before asking, and you document what you learn. • Background and Clearance Ability to pass a standard national police check and willingness to obtain a security clearance (if and when necessary - at our expense) Desirable • Industrial bus experience CAN, 10BASE-T1S or RS-485 • Build environments Yocto or Buildroot, and CI for firmware • UI Dev QT or whatever else you think looks good and works great • Firmware security secure boot, TLS on microcontrollers, secure update • Security or building-systems hardware (access control, alarm, BMS) • Having shipped a certified product end to end Not required A background in physical security. We'll teach you the industry. It won't take long, and you'll quickly see why we think it needs fixing. Formal education is great, but not necessary. We're interested in results and your approach to problem solving, not how well you can study for exams. WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU You own a piece of the company Flux is one of the few companies in Australia with an Employee Share Option Plan for everyone (not just execs!), and as a founding hire you'll get a meaningful slice. Compensation isn't just a salary. When we win, you share in it. 5 weeks of leave a year Startup life can be a lot. We know, because we're living it. So you get the statutory four weeks plus an extra week on top, every year. 15 days sick leave Because life happens. A say in everything Tooling, process, lab kit, who we hire next. Founding hires don't just get a seat at the table, they help build the table. Work that matters Every building you walk into has a security system. Most of them are terrible. You'll be fixing that. WHERE YOU'LL BE Collingwood, Melbourne. Walking distance from Collingwood station and major tram lines, surrounded by some of the best cafes and bars in the city. The office has a lab, a bench, and overly caffeinated engineers. We're open to hybrid, but we'll be upfront: our preference is onsite. This is a hardware role at the stage where the fastest way to solve a problem is three people around a bench with a scope. You can't poke a board over Zoom. We're not open to fully remote at this stage, sorry! HOW TO APPLY Skip the cover letter. Send us: 1. A short note on the hardest hardware problem you've solved and how you found the answer 2. Something you've built. A board, a repo, a photo of a prototype held together with hot glue. We don't mind. 3. Your CV Email it to careers@flux.inc We read all applications ourselves, not with robots. 🤖