Associate Electrical Engineer Jobs in Springfield, VA

Your Impact:

Dedrone stands out as the global leader in airspace defense technology and counter UAS solutions. Engineering at Dedrone is tasked with delivering innovative solutions and products to maintain our position on the cutting-edge of innovation.

This is an entry-level Electrical Engineer role for someone who wants to build hardware with their own hands and grow into a design engineer. You'll work side-by-side with our electrical engineering team across the full lifecycle of next-generation cUAS hardware - building and bringing up boards, designing cable assemblies and wire harnesses, laying out PCBs, running verification and qualification tests, and troubleshooting hardware down to the component level.

Expect to spend real time at the bench. Roughly a third of this job is hands-on build, test, and debug work, and you'll also take ownership of our lab - its equipment, calibration, fixtures, and organization. The rest is design work alongside senior engineers, starting with cables, harnesses, and PCB layout, and growing into schematic capture and design ownership of your own boards. We're an analysis-driven team: we expect decisions to be backed by a calculation or a measurement, and we'll teach you how we do that.

You'll collaborate closely with electrical, mechanical, and firmware engineers, product managers, and manufacturing partners, and your work directly supports our mission of protecting airspace and the public from the emerging cUAS threat.

Location: Sterling, VA - hybrid, onsite Tuesday through Friday

Where This Role Goes:

This is a genuine growth role, and we've mapped it out rather than leaving it vague:

• First six months - build, wire, and test to existing drawings; run bench tests to written plans; get our lab in order and learn our products.
• Six to twelve months - own cable and harness design end to end, including the documentation; take on routine PCB layouts; build and document your own test fixtures.
• One to two years - handle layout for most of our boards, own our library and layout standards, write your own test plans, and begin schematic capture on well-bounded blocks.
• Beyond - schematic ownership of whole boards, analysis you present at design reviews, and a clear path to Electrical Engineer II.

What You'll Do:

• Build, assemble, and rework prototype and pilot-run electronic assemblies, including PCBs, cable/wire harnesses, and mechanical/electrical integration, following schematics, assembly drawings, and IPC workmanship standards.
• Design cable assemblies and wire harnesses - connector and contact selection, pinouts and wire lists, gauge selection with proper derating, shielding and grounding, labeling, and the drawings someone else can build from.
• Lay out printed circuit boards from schematics owned by senior engineers, and generate complete fabrication and assembly packages. You'll grow into schematic capture as your fluency builds.
• Perform hardware bring-up, functional test, and debug of new boards and systems, using lab equipment such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, power supplies, and signal generators.
• Diagnose and troubleshoot electrical faults to the component level, and work with engineers to root-cause and resolve issues found during bring-up, integration, and qualification testing.
• Support power system testing (DC/DC, AC/DC, battery management) and RF/sensor subsystem checkout across a range of power levels and environmental conditions relevant to cUAS platforms.
• Execute test plans and formal verification/validation procedures (EMC, environmental, MIL-STD, etc.), accurately recording data and clearly documenting results and anomalies - and grow into writing those test plans yourself.
• Own our lab: equipment inventory and calibration tracking, ESD and electrical safety practice, consumables, and the cable and fixture organization that lets the whole team move faster.
• Build and maintain test fixtures, jigs, and bench setups to support engineering development and production test needs.
• Maintain organized, accurate documentation for builds, test data, calibration records, firmware/hardware revisions, BOMs, and non-conformances.
• Partner daily with electrical, mechanical, and firmware engineers as well as product and manufacturing teams to support fast-moving R&D and production programs.

What You Bring:

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or a related field. An associate's degree or technical certificate in Electronics Engineering Technology with strong hands-on experience also works.
• 0-3 years of professional experience. New graduates are encouraged to apply - internships, co-ops, capstone projects, competition teams (FSAE, robotics, rocketry), military electronics, and serious maker or hobbyist work all count.
• At least one project you can walk us through where you designed or built the electronics yourself, and can explain the decisions you made and why. School and personal projects are entirely fair game.
• Hands-on proficiency with soldering, rework, and cable/harness assembly. IPC-A-610 / J-STD-001 training or certification is a plus.
• Working knowledge of lab test equipment (DMM, oscilloscope, power supply, function generator) and comfort reading schematics and assembly drawings.
• Solid grasp of electrical fundamentals (analog and digital circuits, power distribution) and real enthusiasm for growing into circuit design and PCB layout.
• Some exposure to schematic and PCB capture tools. We use Altium Designer, but we don't expect you to know it - KiCad, Eagle, OrCAD, or a single class project all count, and we'll train you on ours.
• A habit of checking your own work. We want to hear about a time you ran a calculation or a test to confirm a decision instead of building it and hoping.
• Strong attention to detail and disciplined documentation habits; comfortable following formal test procedures and workmanship standards.
• Good troubleshooting instincts and a drive to understand root cause, not just symptoms.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with high levels of ambiguity, and eagerness to take on greater engineering scope as your skills develop.

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work.