Hardware Design Engineer

Role: Hardware Design Engineer
Location: Chicago, IL (USA)
Experience: 5-7 years

Role Overview

We are looking for a Hardware Design Engineer to take digital and embedded designs from concept and schematic through board bring-up and validation. You will work closely with PCB layout, firmware, and system engineering teams to deliver reliable, production-ready hardware.

Key Responsibilities

• Design digital and embedded hardware from concept and schematic capture through bring-up testing.
• Execute design validation, board bring-up, functional testing, and performance verification.
• Perform root cause analysis (RCA) and debug hardware issues across development, validation, and production phases.
• Design and debug PCIe Gen1 interfaces, including reference clock distribution, AC coupling, lane routing constraints, link training issues, and eye/compliance debug.
• Develop low-voltage DC power designs, including power trees, sequencing, and power-integrity checks.
• Collaborate with PCB layout, firmware, and system engineering teams through design reviews, DFM/DFT feedback, and component selection with lifecycle/obsolescence checks.
• Document test results and design decisions.
  

Required Skills & Experience

• Digital and embedded hardware design: 5-7 years of hands-on experience from concept and schematic through bring-up.
• PCIe (Gen1): Reference clock distribution, AC coupling, lane routing constraints, link training, and eye/compliance debug.
• Low-voltage DC power design: Buck converters and LDOs, power tree and sequencing, power-integrity checks, and low-power techniques (power budgeting, sleep modes, leakage reduction).
• Signal integrity: Impedance-controlled stackups, termination, crosstalk, return-path management, and pre-/post-layout SI review.
• Precision analog and low-noise mixed-signal design: ADC/DAC and sensor front ends, references and op-amps, analog/digital grounding and partitioning, and noise budgeting.
• EDA tools: Cadence Allegro Design Entry HDL (Concept HDL), including library/symbol management and clean BOM and netlist handoff to layout.
• Peripheral and serial interfaces: SPI, I²C, UART, USB, and GPIO, including level shifting, pull-up sizing, bus timing, and protocol-level debugging.
• Lab and validation: Oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and protocol analyzers for board bring-up, debugging, and design validation.

Soft Skills

• Strong cross-functional collaboration with layout, firmware, and system teams.
• Clear documentation and reporting of test results.