Senior Hardware Engineer

About Orasio

Orasio builds cutting-edge solutions that automatically detect situations of interest in video streams. Powered by advanced AI models trained to extract actionable insights from imagery, our technology is designed to be deployed within both existing and new infrastructures, across public and private sectors, civilian or military, while strictly adhering to legal and privacy frameworks.

As artificial intelligence becomes a key pillar of technological sovereignty, Orasio’s mission is to become Europe’s leading video intelligence company. We develop world-class AI solutions tailored to defense and public safety needs, combining technical excellence with a deep respect for data protection laws.

The Role

Orasio's products run where the cameras are. That means we don't ship to a cloud: we ship to police stations, military sites, transport hubs, and industrial facilities, often in constrained or fully air-gapped environments. Every deployment relies on hardware we design, source, or assemble: GPU-accelerated edge devices in the field, and on-premise compute infrastructure built to ingest, process, and store hundreds of video streams 24/7.

We're looking for a Senior Hardware Engineer to own this hardware layer end to end. As the first dedicated hardware hire, you will:

• Design our on-premise compute infrastructure. Self-contained, isolated "mini data centers" combining GPU compute, networking, and storage in rack-mount form factors, sized for deployments that range from a few cameras to several hundred.

• Own our OEM and supplier relationships. Leading technical discussions with manufacturers and integrators, whether we're ordering off-the-shelf hardware at scale or co-designing custom systems branded as Orasio.

• Improve our edge devices. Our current edge AI box (Jetson Orin Nano-based, IP67-rated, fanless) is sourced off-the-shelf and is thermally constrained for our AI workloads. You'll either qualify a better off-the-shelf platform or drive the design of a successor with better thermal headroom while keeping the same ruggedness and deployment envelope.

You'll work hand-in-hand with our Platform and ML engineers (who define compute/throughput requirements), our Forward Deployed Engineers (who install and maintain systems in the field), and our commercial team (who shape the catalog and price points). Reporting directly to the CTO, this role combines hands-on hardware design with the structuring of Orasio's hardware roadmap, a foundational capability for a company whose product physically lives on customer premises.

Responsibilities

• On-premise compute systems design. Define the architecture of our rack-mount AI compute platforms: GPU/accelerator selection, power distribution, networking (10/25/100 GbE), storage (RAID arrays for long-retention video archives), thermal and acoustic envelope, mechanical enclosure, and cable management.

• Bill of Materials, sourcing, and OEM management. Build and maintain BoMs across our hardware SKUs. Lead technical conversations with OEMs, ODMs, and integrators in Europe and beyond, from off-the-shelf bulk orders to custom-branded enclosures and carrier boards.

• Lead hardware development through EVT → DVT → PVT. Define hypotheses, run validation cycles, and gate each phase with documented sign-off criteria. Lock the BOM at PVT.

• Edge device hardware. Improve our current edge AI box. Benchmark alternative ruggedized platforms, or drive a custom design (mechanical, thermal, PCB carrier for NVIDIA Jetson modules, I/O selection) with manufacturing partners. Pay particular attention to thermal dissipation under sustained AI inference as our workloads push these devices well beyond typical IP camera use cases.

• Thermal & power engineering. Run airflow, thermal, and power budget analyses for both edge and rack-mount systems. Validate designs against real workloads, ambient conditions, and altitude/dust constraints encountered in the field.

• Identify and mitigate architecture risks. Network SPOFs, insufficient thermal margins, vendor lock-in, and component obsolescence (a real concern for multi-year on-premise support contracts).

• Certifications and compliance. Drive the path to CE / FCC and other relevant certifications (EMC, safety, IP ratings, transport/rail standards where applicable) in collaboration with test labs and certified manufacturers.

• Field-ready hardware. Design for what our Forward Deployed Engineers and integrators actually experience: serviceability, spare parts, hot-swap where it matters,