Jacob Likins ⚡️
Back to Projects Electrical and Firmware Lead Olin Electric Motorsports

Electrical and Firmware Lead Olin Electric Motorsports


Leadership

Overview

During my second year on the team, I became the Co-Electrical Lead for Olin Electric Motorsports (Formula SAE). I worked alongside four other Core Leads (Mechanical, Project Management, Operations, and my Co-Electrical Lead), I was responsible for directing the electrical systems engineering for our competitive electric vehicle, with a specific focus on firmware and embedded software architecture.

My Role & The Management Stack

  • Role: Co-Electrical/Firmware Lead
  • Subteams Managed: Sensing, High Voltage, Low Voltage, and Integration
  • Management Tools: Coda (Documentation & Agile Tracking), Slack, GitHub PRs
  • Skills: Cross-Functional Leadership, Technical Mentorship, Code/Schematic Review, Systems Architecture

Leadership & Engineering Management

1. Team Structure & Cross-Functional Coordination

The electrical/firmware team had 20 people involved. We divided the electrical team into four sub teams. Sensing, High Voltage, Low Voltage, and Integration each with their own sub lead.

I would have weekly sync meetings to make sure there was alignment across the vehicle. This includes high-level Core Lead meetings with Mechanical and Project Management timelines, Co-Electrical Lead strategy meetings, and full-team all-hands meetings. We used Coda for central project tracking and documentation, and seeing member’s projects and their immediate blockers.

2. Technical Mentorship & Design Review

We had a goal to push many capable members on the team so throughout the year I would host 3-5 hours a week to hosting open office hours to help with issues.

I also would do technical design reviews for both firmware pull requests and high-voltage KiCad PCB layouts, to make sure that all designs met our safety and rules compliance standards before manufacturing.

Lecture Caption: Showing the basics of firmware with an example.

3. Systems Integration

Building individual circuit boards is a big part but not the whole story. Integrating them into a functional vehicle is where most teams fail. By working with the Integration sub-lead and other members on the team, we worked on physical wiring harnesses, sensor mounting, and firmware communication protocols (like our CAN bus network) as a unified system.

Outcomes & Personal Growth

Overall the experience gave me so much. It forced me to transition from an individual contributor who just focused on my individual project, into someone who had to balance high-level vehicle requirements with people management. Learning how to delegate, teach the basics of tools like KiCad, and maintain morale through long manufacturing cycles fundamentally changed how I approach team-based engineering.