The posting
Join Way of Water, a funded field-robotics project at ETH Zurich (Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, Research D'Andrea). This is a project employee (staff) role: you come in to deliver engineering work for the life of the project. We build autonomous surface robots whose electronics have to live with batteries, water, EMI and long days outdoors, then still be serviceable.
This role is for someone with an electronics and embedded bent who wants ownership, not a closed schematic brief. You will shape the electrical and device layer: boards, power, interfaces, bring-up and the habits that make a fleet electrically trustworthy. The brief will widen as payloads, sensors and production volumes change. Specialization helps you start strong. Curiosity across the stack is how you grow into more.
Compensation is competitive for a funded project role and depends on experience.
100%, IDSC - Research D'Andrea, Fixed-term project staff (~18 months)
Own the electrical and embedded layer: from requirements and schematics to boards that boot, talk to sensors and actuators, and survive real use. Bring systems up, write the firmware or diagnostics needed to understand them, and leave tests others can run again. Work at the seams with mechanical and software colleagues: mounting, connectors, grounding, timing, power budgets, and what fails after water or vibration. Partner with fabricators, assemblers and technicians so designs leave the bench as maintainable units, not one-off miracles. Investigate hard faults with instruments and logs. Turn messy field symptoms into clear electrical or firmware fixes. About 0–5 years of hands-on experience after your degree. Internships, thesis projects, Focus projects and paid project work count. This is an early-career project-staff role. A background in electrical engineering, electronics, embedded systems or equivalent practical experience. Evidence you have delivered boards or electronic systems yourself — design, bring-up, debug and handover — not only theory. Hands-on work is required, not optional: you bring up boards, probe faults and ship working electronics yourself — on the bench and in the field — not schematics-only work. Practical circuit judgement (analogue and digital, board-level power, grounding) and comfort with common device interfaces. Ability to write embedded or test software (for example C/C++ and a scripting language) well enough to own bring-up. Appetite for outdoor and on-water testing. Field days are part of the job, including Lake Zürich and partner sites. An independent working style, and documentation habits that help a small team scale. We care more about what you have made work and how you debug than about a matching keyword list. Experience with battery systems, robotics, environmental testing, EMI/EMC, or small production runs is welcome if you have it.
How you grow here
You start with electronics and embedded ownership. Over the project, the work naturally reaches into system integration, production test, reliability under outdoor conditions, and closer collaboration with control software. Mechanical and control colleagues own their layers. You learn enough of theirs to design for the whole robot. Growth here means broader robotics craft and ownership inside a fixed-term project. There may separately be an opportunity to join a planned spin-off early if that is a mutual fit after or alongside project delivery.
Working with the team
You will also work closely with established entrepreneurs, world-class scientists, and engineers who are artists. They are people who have built a billion-dollar company, sent hardware to the International Space Station, and created live performance-art installations at the Venice Biennale.
We look forward to receiving your online application with the following documents:
CV One or two examples of boards or electronic systems you personally delivered. What was your design contribution, how did you bring it up, what was the hardest fault, and how did you resolve it? Sanitized examples are fine Further information about Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control can be found on our website. Questions regarding the position should be directed to Aswin Karthik Ramachandran Venkatapathy, [email protected] (no applications).
Please note that we exclusively accept applications submitted through our online application portal. Applications via email or postal services will not be considered.
We would like to point out that the pre-selection is carried out by the responsible recruiters and not by artificial intelligence.
