Location: Mountain View, CA
Salary: $65.00 USD Hourly - $75.00 USD Hourly
Description: Job Title: Senior Hardware Engineer - Haptics & Input SensingDuration: August 3, 2026 to March 29, 2027
Work Location: Mountain View, CA - Hybrid (Tuesday-Thursday in office, Monday & Friday remote) Note: 5 days onsite preferred if intensive lab work is required.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, Normal Business Hours
Role OverviewOur Haptics and Input Sensing group develops state-of-the-art Human-Machine-Interface (HMI) solutions for premium consumer devices. Our goal is to deliver exceptional user experiences by introducing novel sensing input and haptic output systems through hardware progression and algorithm refinements.
We are seeking a skilled Hardware Engineer to lead the development of next-generation force sensor hardware. This role bridges the gap between electrical and mechanical engineering-from defining sensor and ASIC requirements to overseeing system integration and failure analysis-ensuring these complex systems adhere to strict launch schedules in high-volume products.
Key Responsibilities Core Engineering Contributions
- Deliver complete segments of design or design validation projects with minimal assistance, creating, developing, and validating hardware components.
- Update and maintain internal design specifications, validation plans, drawings, and standards to the latest configurations.
- Work extensively with cross-functional engineers and managers to navigate project constraints.
- Resolve hardware issues across the entire lifecycle: concept design, detailed design, product development, design validation, manufacturing, and deployment.
- Address escalated issues by identifying and recommending creative ways to improve solutions via better methods or tools.
- Collaborate within and across teams to communicate process improvements, build networks, and contribute to cross-team initiatives.
Design Optimization & Analysis
- Apply best practices to optimize complex, constrained hardware components to meet performance, power, and cost-effectiveness requirements.
- Use measurements or numerical methods to quantify the impact of design decisions and make recommendations.
- Identify flaws and issues with hardware components; analyze key risks or trade-offs and suggest corrective actions for common hardware failures.
- Provide thorough technical documentation of the hardware design, implementation, and test/validation results throughout the product life cycle.
- Review hardware designs (e.g., block diagrams, schematics, layouts, BOM, algorithms, protocols, link budgets) to anticipate and mitigate risks.
- Evaluate hardware performance, identify causes of deviation from predictions, resolve test discrepancies, and perform measurements/simulations to validate design specifications.
Dedicated Technical Focus (Haptics & Sensing)
- Drive the end-to-end execution of the design in high-volume consumer products, ensuring robust performance from prototype to mass production.
- Partner with Industrial Design (ID), System Engineering, and Operations teams to optimize sensor integration.
- Collaborate closely with Firmware and Algorithm teams to optimize sensor signal chains, drivers, and user interaction models.
- Schematic Design & Review: Design, modify, and review electrical schematics for embedded systems, ensuring proper component selection, power distribution, and signal integrity.
- Hardware Bring-Up: Lead the initial bring-up, debugging, and verification of prototype Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs).
- Lab Testing: Utilize standard lab equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, digital multimeters, spectrum analyzers) to diagnose and resolve complex hardware-software boundary issues.
- Embedded FW Development: Write clean, robust, and maintainable C/C++ code for bare-metal systems or Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS).
- Driver Implementation: Develop and optimize low-level peripheral drivers for communication protocols including I2C, SPI, UART, USB, and PCIe.
- Software Scripting: Write Python or shell scripts to automate hardware testing, data collection, and validation procedures.
Role Qualifications Core Proficiencies Required
- Hardware systems and subsystems implementation
- Domain-specific hardware architecture knowledge
- Product development lifecycle (PDLC)
- Debugging, troubleshooting, and failure analysis
- Data analysis, synthesis, and systems thinking
- Technical documentation and cross-functional team collaboration
Minimum Qualifications
- Experience: 2 years of experience working in a robotics and force-sensing technical environment (or 1 year of experience with an advanced degree).
- Education: B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field, alongside a minimum of 2 years of relevant industry experience.
- Technical Depth: Deep understanding of force sensing technologies (strain, capacitive, resistive, piezo) and experience with mixed-signal auditing, analog front-end design (specifically PGAs, ADCs, and DACs), and system-level integration.
- Hands-on Skills: Proven experience in sensing system prototype design, bring-up, debugging, characterization, and functional verification.
- Tools: Proficiency in schematic capture and PCB design tools (e.g., Altium Designer, OrCAD, Eagle).
- Firmware: Strong proficiency in C or C++ for embedded systems, with a solid understanding of memory management and microcontrollers (e.g., ARM Cortex-M, ESP32, TI MSP430).
- Testing: Competence in debugging hardware using standard lab test equipment, with the ability to read, interpret, and critique complex electrical schematics and component datasheets.
- Soft Skills: Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- M.S./Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field.
- Proficiency in multiphysics simulations (e.g., Ansys, COMSOL) to model structural-electrostatic interactions and guide mechanical design.
- Expertise in designing instrumentation amplifiers and Wheatstone bridge circuits for low-noise strain sensing applications.
- Experience with 3D CAD tools (e.g., NX, SolidWorks) and performing tolerance analysis on complex mechanical stack-ups.
- Proven track record of designing high-volume, high-quality consumer electronic products.
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