We have an opening for Senior Electrical Engineer, Robot Controller Hardware
Location - Fremont, CA
Full time permanent position
Responsibilities
- Define controller hardware requirements with software and systems teams, including processing needs, sensor connectivity, interface bandwidth, synchronization, power budgets, and environmental constraints.
- Architect multi-processor controller platforms integrating NVIDIA Jetson modules, x86 hosts, and MCUs.
- Define processing boundaries, inter-processor communication, peripheral connections, and dependencies across power, clock, reset, and boot domains.
- Design custom carrier boards for NVIDIA Jetson modules, including AGX Thor.
- Evaluate compute platforms including NVIDIA Jetson, Qualcomm robotics platforms, and x86 processors.
- Own schematic design, component selection, and PCB development for controller motherboards, carrier boards, and associated interface electronics.
- Design and validate high-speed interfaces including PCIe, multi-gigabit Ethernet, USB, MIPI CSI-2, and camera SerDes links.
- Define stackups, impedance targets, routing constraints, grounding, and return paths.
- Design onboard networking and hardware time synchronization between processors, cameras, and sensors.
- Develop board-level power architectures including DC-DC conversion, sequencing, transient response, protection, monitoring, and fault reporting.
- Analyze signal and power integrity risks and correlate design assumptions with bench measurements.
- Lead board bring-up with embedded software engineers.
- Debug boot, reset, clocking, processor communication, peripheral enumeration, and sensor connectivity.
- Define and execute validation plans covering interface performance, sustained workloads, power cycling, temperature, supply variation, and fault recovery.
- Partner with mechanical and thermal engineers on connectors, cables, cooling, and packaging.
- Support EMI/EMC testing and corrective actions.
- Work with manufacturing and test teams on DFM/DFT reviews, prototype builds, production test coverage, component substitutions, and production release.
Must-haves:
- 5+ years of electrical hardware design experience with embedded processor systems, high-speed digital electronics, or similarly complex products
- At least one board taken through bring-up and production release
- Hands-on design of at least one custom NVIDIA Jetson carrier board taken through board bring-up
- Experience owning processor-based motherboards, system-on-module carrier boards, or comparable complex multilayer PCBAs from schematic design through validation
- Experience designing interfaces between processors, compute modules, MCUs, and peripherals
- Strong schematic design skills
- Proficiency with Altium, Cadence, or equivalent EDA tools
- Experience defining and reviewing high-speed PCB layouts
- Practical experience with multiple high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, Ethernet, USB, MIPI, or camera SerDes
- Strong understanding of signal and power integrity
- Experience designing processor or compute-module power supplies
- Strong bench debugging skills
- Experience collaborating with embedded software engineers on hardware/software interface issues
Required Skills:
- Embedded processor hardware design
- High-speed digital electronics
- NVIDIA Jetson carrier-board design
- Multi-processor system architecture
- x86, ARM, MCU, and system-on-module integration
- Complex multilayer PCB design
- Schematic capture and component selection
- Altium, Cadence, or equivalent EDA tools
- PCIe
- Multi-gigabit Ethernet
- USB
- MIPI CSI-2
- Camera SerDes
- Signal integrity
- Power integrity
- Transmission lines and impedance control
- Grounding and return-path design
- Power distribution networks and decoupling
- Processor power-supply design
- DC-DC conversion and sequencing
- Hardware protection and fault monitoring
- Board bring-up and validation
- Oscilloscope, logic analyzer, protocol analyzer, and programmable power-supply debugging
- EMI/EMC support
- DFM and DFT
- Production release
- Cross-functional collaboration with software, systems, mechanical, thermal, manufacturing, and test teams
