Spinout Founding CTO - Hive Robotics
Trailblazers are already building the road to space. It’s time to design, build, test, and launch the space habitat and robotic infrastructure for a life worth living once we get there. Aurelia Institute is a non-profit space architecture research & development lab, education and outreach center, and policy hub dedicated to scaling humanity’s presence in space. We are seeking a founding CTO for a robotics company that will be incubated internally and spun-out in 2024.
We are developing a miniature, mobile swarm robotics platform for inspection, diagnostics, and servicing (particularly for hard to reach areas or extreme environments). While the prototype robot was designed for a lunar surface mission (and will be flying to the moon’s south pole later this year), we are building this company around broad application areas for Earth & Space, particularly terrestrial pipeline and critical infrastructure inspection in the face of climate change.
The founding team will work closely with the technology inventor/PI and the board to develop a business model, go-to-market plan, and technology roadmap and will lead the next deployment demo for a beachhead market. This hiring call comes with existing engineering team support, a straightforward path to in-house capital for the first pre-seed round (pending performance), and extensive mentorship and entrepreneurship support through the Aurelia ecosystem to empower the founding team as the steady-state leaders of the company going forward. Both individual applicants and founding partner teams are welcome to apply.
Background on Aurelia Ecosystem
- Aurelia Institute is a non-profit space architecture R&D lab, education and outreach center, and policy hub dedicated to building humanity’s future in space, with cross-over technologies for climate change mitigation on Earth. This new organization was spun out of Dr. Ariel Ekblaw's research lab at the MIT Space Exploration Initiative.
- Aurelia Foundry is a for-profit deep tech space fund investing in companies that spin out of Aurelia's non-profit incubation ecosystem and in outside founders that fit our investment thesis for life in space and space infrastructure for the benefit of life on Earth.
- Together, the two pieces form a hybrid organization whose mission is to prepare humanity to become a thriving, Earth-conscious, spacefaring species. Our aim is to develop the infrastructure, technologies, markets, and policies that will help us scale humanity’s horizons from early space stations in LEO to the fullness of a principled interplanetary civilization. We are at a critical inflection point in the space industry where major commercial investments are being made and precedents are being set at a record pace. Aurelia is moving quickly to drive and shape rigorous, accessible space exploration with strategies for long term human flourishing, while profoundly benefitting life on Earth.
Expectations & requirements:
- Undergraduate B.S. in technical field (science/engineering)
- Advanced degree (PhD or technical MS + work experience in relevant field)
- 7-10 years working as an engineering leader, ideally with hardware experience AFTER undergrad (can include grad programs)
- Excels in developing and leading technical roadmap for highly specialized, groundbreaking work
- Interdisciplinary, strong technical background in at least one of the following: robotics, mechatronics/embedded systems/applied EE, coding for hardware (firmware, BLE, etc.). *In the early days, the CTO is expected to be an individual technical contributor as well
- Must be highly familiar with/able to supervise a technical team through: engineering CAD (Solidworks or Fusion preferred), PCB design (Altium, Eagle, and/or comparable), simulation and software tools (Matlab/Simulink, ANSYS, Cyberbotics, etc.), requirements drafting & systems engineering best practices
- Strong communicator, with high EI/EQ and passion for leading top-notch technical teams
- Multifaceted thinker, with ability to pull in expertise from multiple fields and manage complex, multi-application projects with varying constraints
- Prepared to lead an early stage start-up through multiple rounds of fundraising and fieldwork-heavy technical deployments
Preferred background:
- Prior early stage start-up experience, in a team of 5-50 employees
- Prior founder experience
- Demonstrated passion for space exploration and/or climate change mitigation
- Experience fundraising >$50k
- Experience with DoD ecosystem / government contracts
How to Apply:
- Fill out our application form by clicking the "Apply" button in this posting and include your resume/CV. Cover letters or email self-introductions are not required but may be helpful for those transitioning from another industry.
