Mechatronics Internship Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Please note before applying: this internship is open to graduates only (degree conferred; current students are not eligible) and is fully on-site in Azusa, CA, including an in-person interview — candidates should be in the greater Los Angeles area or able to relocate.

This is a hands-on hardware internship — you'll build and integrate the physical sensing platforms (enclosures, custom PCBs, RF/sensor payloads, servo-actuated antenna arrays), not write robotics/autonomy software. If you love making real hardware work in the field, this is for you.

ABOUT ELDAEON

ELDAEON is building the world's first tactical UAP-detection network. Our sensor-fusion platform is engineered ground-up to detect what conventional defense systems were never designed to see — anomalous aerial phenomena that violate restricted airspace, including near nuclear facilities and military installations.

Our platform is:

• Modular — adaptable across rooftop, field, and networked regional deployments
• Multimodal — fusing optical, RF, environmental, biometric, and temporal data
• Real-time — live detection, correlation, and characterization of aerial phenomena

We are sensor hackers, reverse engineers, and deep-tech builders. We build what others won't.

THE ROLE

You'll join our hardware team as a Mechatronics Engineering Intern for a 3 month internship (immediate start preferred, opportunity to convert full-time), working across our two flagship sensing platforms:

• DIONYSUS — our multi-sensor UAP-detection enclosure. Integrates RF (HackRF, RTL-SDR, PlutoSDR), compute (Raspberry Pi stacks, Jetson Orin Nano, NucBox mini-PC), particle detection (PicoMuon cosmic-ray, Geiger counter), EMF, GPS, and electro-optical cameras inside a weatherproof, field-deployable chassis with active ventilation.
• NEMESIS — our passive radar system. Servo-actuated RF antenna array driven by software-defined radio, antenna control board (ACB), and Raspberry Pi compute.

This is a hands-on role across CAD, electromechanical integration, thermal/ventilation design, PCB bring-up, soldering, 3D printing of custom mounts, and bring-up of new sensor payloads. You will own real subsystems shipping to early customers.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Design and 3D print mechanical enclosures, brackets, and modular bays in CAD (Fusion 360) for DIONYSUS and NEMESIS subsystems
• Integrate embedded compute (Raspberry Pi, Jetson Orin) with RF front-ends (SDRs, antennas, ACB) and electro-optical cameras
• Design, fabricate, and bring up custom PCBs — schematic capture, board layout, hand-soldering, debug
• Build out servo and actuator control for NEMESIS antenna positioning (PWM, encoders, closed-loop control)
• Design thermal-management and IP-rated ventilation solutions for outdoor-deployable hardware
• Wire and bring up new sensor payloads — RF, EO, environmental, particle
• Contribute to BOMs, assembly procedures, and field-deployment runbooks
• Work directly with founders and senior engineers on weekly hardware reviews

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Required:

• Completed BS or MS in Mechatronics, Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace, Robotics, or a related engineering discipline (degree already conferred, current students are NOT eligible)
• Proficient in at least one CAD tool (Fusion 360, SolidWorks, or Onshape)
• Hands-on experience with at least one embedded platform — Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Jetson, STM32, or similar
• Comfortable with hand-soldering through-hole and surface-mount components
• Able to be on-site in Azusa for the full internship
• 3D printing fluency (FDM/SLA) for functional parts — not just hobby prints
• Agentic Programming w/ Loops (Claude Desktop / Claude CLI)

Strongly preferred (any combination):

• PCB design experience (KiCad, Altium, or similar) — schematic + layout
• Software-defined radio (HackRF, RTL-SDR, PlutoSDR, GNU Radio)
• FPGA development (Verilog/VHDL, Vivado/Quartus) — Zynq, Artix, or similar
• Servo / motor control with encoders and closed-loop tuning
• Electro-optical camera integration (machine-vision cameras, lens selection, image pipelines)
• Linux command line and Python
• Thermal management and IP-rated enclosure design

Bonus:

• Personal projects in robotics, drones, ham radio, astronomy, or sensor-fusion
• Genuine curiosity about UAP, anomalous aerial phenomena and the frontier of sensing

PERKS

• Paid — $20/hr, full-time (40 hrs/week)
• Free company-provided housing in Azusa, CA available for select interns (decided at offer stage; based on candidate strength and need)
• Real ownership — you ship subsystems to early customers, not throwaway intern projects
• Direct access to founders and senior engineers
• Frontier work — the platform you'll build doesn't have a textbook

ITAR/EXPORT CONTROL NOTICE:

ELDÆON develops technology subject to U.S. export-control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by the U.S. Department of State's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC).

• Radar-related work is restricted to U.S. Persons. Core radar signal processing, NEMESIS passive-radar firmware, and any related controlled technical data may only be accessed by U.S. Persons as defined under 22 CFR §120.62 (U.S. citizens, U.S. lawful permanent residents, and protected individuals under 8 U.S.C. §1324b(a)(3)).
• Non-U.S. Persons are not eligible for this position at this time. This includes candidates requiring visa sponsorship or authorized only under F-1/OPT, CPT, or H-1B status.
• Applicants may be asked to confirm U.S.-Person status during the process. Final scope assignment is made at offer stage based on applicant status and current export-control posture.

We read every application. If your project portfolio shows you can build, you'll hear back.

ELDAEON is an equal-opportunity employer. We build what others won't — and we hire people who do the same.