Hardware Engineer

Job Description Job Description

Job Description

Hardware Engineer - New Product Development

Location: Chandler, AZ (Onsite)

Employment Type: Full-Time / Contract-to-Hire

About the Role

We are seeking a hands-on Hardware Engineer to design and develop next-generation electronic products for defense and rugged commercial applications. The ideal candidate does their own schematic capture and PCB layout end-to-end; this is not an architecture-only or oversight role. The right person has taken boards from concept through production, debugged them when they broke, and learned from it.

Key Responsibilities

• Own hardware design end-to-end: schematic capture, PCB layout, prototyping, board bring-up, and debug through production release.
• Design circuit boards for rugged, industrial, commercial, or defense-adjacent applications (not high-volume consumer electronics).
• Work with microprocessor-based designs, including digital interfaces (GPIO, ADC, high-speed buses) and general digital/mixed-signal circuit design.
• Design power electronics in the 1-5kW range (not low-power audio/amplifier-scale work).
• Design hardware in a way that supports the embedded/firmware team's work, even without writing firmware directly. Prior firmware exposure is a plus.
• Collaborate with mechanical and systems engineers to integrate hardware into full electro-mechanical products.
• Participate in client-facing design reviews and program updates.
• Use AI-assisted tools (e.g., for design review) as part of the standard workflow; comfort with this is expected, not optional.

Required Skills & Experience

• Enough experience to have been through a full product cycle, from design through production through field issues, but not so specialized that the candidate has only worked on isolated pieces of larger programs.
• Ground-up PCB design experience is required. Candidates who have only worked at large companies with dedicated layout technicians (i.e., don't do their own layout) are not a fit.
• Proficiency with Altium Designer preferred. Candidates with only KiCad/Eagle experience will be viewed as more hobbyist-level; Altium experience is a plus but not a strict filter if the rest of the background is strong.
• Experience with microprocessor-based digital design and high-speed routing/bus design.
• Power electronics experience (battery or power supply design in the 1-5kW range) is valued.
• Strong hands-on debugging ability. Candidates should be able to bring past board work to an interview and walk through what went wrong and how they fixed it.
• No fear of or resistance to AI tools in the engineering workflow. This has become a real culture filter for the team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in rugged product design for automotive, medical, industrial, or defense/aerospace applications. Defense/aerospace background is a plus but not required.
• Familiarity with relevant MIL-STDs (461 EMI, 810 environmental) or equivalent rugged design standards from automotive/medical work.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or related discipline preferred, not a hard requirement if experience supports the above.

Soft Skills / Culture Fit (Critical)

• High emotional intelligence and comfort working directly with clients.
• Strong accountability and humility around design mistakes; the team wants to see how a candidate responds when something breaks, not blame-shifting or overconfidence.
• Comfortable in a culture that includes firearms and alcohol on-site.
• Well-presented and professional in appearance.

Certifications / Clearance

• Must be a U.S. Citizen (born or naturalized). Green card holders and other work-authorized non-citizens are not eligible. No sponsorship available.
• No active clearance required. Candidate must be eligible to become ITAR-compliant.

Key changes from the old JD:

• Removed "5+ years" as a hard requirement, replaced with the "seen a full product cycle" framing since that mattered more to Andy than a specific number.
• Cut OrCAD/Mentor Graphics mentions and centered on Altium as the real preference, with the KiCad/Eagle nuance Andy raised.
• Removed system-architecture framing from the intro and responsibilities. Andy was explicit: no system architects, this is a layout/bring-up/debug role.
• Removed DFM/DFT, UL/CE/FCC/ISO regulatory language, and EMI/EMC compliance detail as formal requirements since none of that came up as a priority on the call.
• Added the AI-tool comfort requirement, since Andy flagged this as an active screening factor now.
• Added the same culture-fit section as the ME role (client-facing, humility, guns/alcohol comfort, presentation) since Andy made clear this applies identically to both hires.
• Fixed citizenship language to match the ME JD: US citizens only, no green card sponsorship.