Aleksandr K.

The most expensive hardware mistakes are made before detailed design begins: architecture frozen around untested assumptions, components selected without credible power or sourcing models, and key interfaces deferred until layout. I turn that ambiguity into an executable engineering plan before it becomes a redesign. I work at the system level: translating product goals into requirements, architecture, component strategy, power and runtime models, thermal and EMI/RF risk controls, validation plans, and handoff packages that specialist teams can execute against. I can also act as a fractional technical owner, coordinating electronics, firmware, industrial design, suppliers, and engineering decisions across the programme. On a recent complex wearable programme, I took an unvalidated component concept through architecture and BOM review, power and runtime modelling, prototype and validation planning, thermal, EMI/RF and interconnect risk analysis, and pre-PCB specialist handoff. Typical engagements: • Feasibility, requirements and system architecture • Prototype definition, technical roadmaps and decision gates • Power, battery, BOM, sourcing and integration analysis • Engineering-risk assessment, design review and validation planning • Specialist and vendor selection, briefing and technical oversight • Hardware due diligence for founders and investors • Fractional hardware and R&D leadership Background: PhD in Electronic Engineering, with 10+ years in advanced hardware R&D and 7+ years in technical leadership. My experience includes ETH Zürich and PSI, collaboration with IBM, technical leadership within a €3M Horizon Europe programme, JSPS-funded research in Japan, three patents, and delivery of a TRL-6 prototype. I work as the technical owner across disciplines, not as a substitute for every execution specialist. I define, review and integrate the work; when needed, I select and manage the PCB, CAD, firmware or other specialists responsible for detailed implementation. Engagements are normally structured as fixed-fee milestones with defined deliverables and decision gates. Best fit: startups, research spinouts, corporate R&D teams and investors working on complex physical products, especially where electronics, sensing, compute, mechanics, power, sourcing and scientific uncertainty interact. Send me a short description of your product, its current stage, and the engineering decision or risk currently holding it back.