Job Title : Sr. Analog Electrical Engineer
Rate : Open to Market
Location details : Everett, WA
Duration : 12+ Months- C2H
Job Description
Client is seeking a highly experienced Analog Hardware Design Engineer to join a fast‑paced, high‑impact product engineering effort. The team is entering a pivotal phase: a new hardware design is about to begin PCA bring‑up, and the engineering team must debug, redesign, validate, and complete a fully functional hardware revision.
This role requires a hands-on analog expert—someone who thrives on debugging complex measurement circuitry, optimizing high‑current designs, and driving iterative improvements. You will be the technical lead in taking the design from first-article prototype to a 100% working, production-ready revision.
Candidates with primarily FPGA or high‑speed gigasample digital backgrounds will NOT be a fit. This is a precision analog + power electronics + measurement systems role.
What You’ll Do
1. New PCA Bring-Up & Rapid Debug
- Lead the entire first‑article PCA validation process when boards arrive in the next 1–2 weeks.
- Identify, characterize, and isolate root-cause issues across analog measurement, high-current paths, H‑Bridge drivers, and power subsystems.
- Document all design faults, performance variances, and unexpected behaviors.
- Work closely with cross-functional engineering teams to plan rapid design-turn cycles.
2. Precision Analog & Measurement Circuit Design
- Own design, debugging, and improvement of precision analog circuits operating DC to 1 MHz, including:
- Low-noise op amp stages
- Instrumentation amplifier architectures
- High-resolution ADC front-end design
- Measurement accuracy, stability, and drift considerations
- Improve circuit performance through simulation (SPICE, LTSpice, QSPICE) and empirical validation.
3. High-Current & Power Electronics Development
- Design and characterize high-current (>20A) current sources, ensuring thermal stability, accuracy, and dynamic response.
- Apply deep understanding of H-Bridge drivers—preferably using H-Bridges in non-motor applications such as signal routing, switching, precision control, or load modulation.
- Diagnose switching losses, cross‑conduction, thermal hotspots, and transient behavior.
4. Thermal, PCB, and Mechanical Integration
- Work with heavy copper PCAs (>3 oz copper) to optimize current carrying capacity, heat spreading, and mechanical robustness.
- Collaborate with mechanical/thermal engineers on heat sinking, chassis conduction, airflow paths, and component placement.
- Drive layout review and revision cycles to meet performance, manufacturability, and regulatory constraints.
5. Simulation, Analysis & Documentation
- Create SPICE simulations to validate proposed design improvements prior to layout changes.
- Provide detailed documentation including:
- Debug summaries
- Root-cause analyses
- Electrical test procedures
- Redesign proposals
- Final design validation reports
6. Deliver a Fully Functional Hardware Revision
✔ Debug of first PCA spin
✔ Redesign and schematic updates
✔ Layout guidance and review
✔ Validation testing
✔ Hand‑off of a production-ready revision
Required Qualifications (Must-Have)
Precision Analog & Measurement
- Demonstrated excellence designing precision analog circuits DC to 1 MHz
(op amps, instrumentation amps, ADC front-ends).
- Proven experience designing, modeling, and debugging high‑current sources (>20A).
- Deep expertise with H-Bridge drivers, particularly for non‑motor applications.
- Strong understanding of signal integrity, noise sources, thermal drift, grounding, and shielding in measurement systems.
Practical Debug Skills
- Expert hands-on use of lab equipment:
- Oscilloscopes
- Logic analyzers
- Thermal imagers
- Spectrum analyzers
- LCR meters
- Ability to take ambiguous or intermittent failures and systematically isolate the root cause.
Tools & Engineering Software
- Proficiency with ECAD tools such as Cadence, Allegro, or Altium.
- Strong experience with simulation tools: SPICE, LTSpice, QSPICE, or similar.
Preferred Qualifications (Nice-to-Have)
- Experience with impedance control, signal integrity, and EMI/EMC compliance.
- Comfort integrating hardware with firmware engineering teams
(low-level drivers, embedded interfaces, register-level behavior).
- 10+ years of industry experience, preferably in test equipment, metrology, or precision measurement hardware.
Ideal Candidate Traits
The client places a strong emphasis on continuous improvement and practical problem-solving. Ideal candidates will:
- Show genuine excitement about hands-on engineering challenges.
- Demonstrate a Kaizen mindset—always improving, always learning.
- Be proactive and question assumptions instead of accepting the status quo.
- Embrace iterative change rather than perfection paralysis.
- Seek solutions in parallel with discovering problems.
- Create an environment where teammates feel empowered to contribute ideas.
- Use the “5 Whys” to drive root-cause investigation.
- Combine data, creativity, and engineering intuition to propose low-cost, elegant improvements.
- Pull in diverse viewpoints from peers, technicians, and cross-functional partners.
- Maintain a mindset of never stopping to improve.