Electrical Test Development Engineer

About the role

We are seeking a Senior Electrical Test Development Engineer located in Austin, Texas. Reporting to the Test Development Manager, you will architect, develop, validate, and deploy automated functional test solutions for electronic products. This role requires strong cross-functional collaboration with customers, design engineering teams, software developers, mechanical engineers, and manufacturing personnel to deliver reliable, scalable, and cost-effective production test systems.

Responsibilities

• Test Strategy and Architecture
  • Collaborate with customers and design engineering teams to understand product functionality, performance requirements, and test coverage objectives.
  • Review product documentation including schematics, bills of material, functional specifications, and communication protocols.
  • Participate in Design for Testability (DFT) reviews and provide recommendations to improve product test coverage, access, and manufacturability.
  • Define overall test strategy and create comprehensive test plans.
  • Evaluate product technologies and determine requirements for electrical interfaces, power delivery, communication protocols, stimulation methods, measurement techniques, and data collection.
  • Develop system-level electrical architectures for automated test platforms.
• Electrical Design and Hardware Development
  • Design electrical test solutions tailored to product-specific requirements.
  • Select and integrate appropriate test instrumentation including oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, power supplies, signal generators, frequency analyzers, RF test equipment, environmental test equipment, and leak test systems.
  • Design custom interface PCBs, breakout boards, adapter boards, signal conditioning circuits, and custom hardware required to support automated functional testing.
  • Create electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and interconnect documentation.
  • Develop electrical connection maps and collaborate with mechanical engineering teams on fixture design.
  • Ensure compliance with applicable electrical safety standards and safe operating practices.
  • Generate tester Bills of Material (BOMs) and support component sourcing activities.
  • Perform schematic capture and PCB layout using tools such as Cadence OrCAD, Allegro, or equivalent platforms.
  • Support PCB prototype bring-up, debug, validation, and root-cause analysis activities.
• Software and Automation Development
  • Develop and maintain automated test sequences using NI TestStand and other automation frameworks.
  • Develop instrument drivers, APIs, and test software modules using Python, C, C#, LabVIEW, and Linux scripting.
  • Implement communication interfaces using industry-standard protocols.
  • Integrate data collection, traceability, and manufacturing execution system (MES) requirements into test solutions.
  • Support software validation and verification activities for production test systems.
• Debug, Validation, and Deployment
  • Support tester assembly, integration, debug, and validation activities.
  • Develop preventive maintenance procedures, troubleshooting guides, and other support documentation.
  • Conduct internal and customer design reviews.
  • Support installation, qualification, and launch activities at manufacturing sites.
  • Travel as required (up to 20%) to support deployment and production ramp activities.
• Project and Technical Leadership
  • Provide electrical engineering input for test development quotations and project planning.
  • Contribute to project schedules, resource estimates, and risk assessments.
  • Provide regular project status updates to management and stakeholders.
  • Serve as the technical owner for assigned test development projects.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Minimum 5 years of experience developing automated functional test systems for electronic products.
• Demonstrated ability to independently lead and execute complete test development projects from concept through production deployment.
• Strong understanding of interactions between product hardware, test software, test fixtures, instrumentation, and manufacturing environments.
• Strong knowledge of analog and digital circuit design.
• Strong experience designing analog, digital, mixed-signal, and power interface circuits for automated test equipment and manufacturing applications.
• Proficiency with NI TestStand.
• Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Python, C, or C#.
• Experience with automated test instrumentation and measurement systems.
• Experience working directly with customers and cross-functional engineering teams.
• Ability to interpret and analyze technical documentation, schematics, functional requirements, and communication specifications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with NI LabVIEW.
• Experience with manufacturing test data collection and MES integration.
• Familiarity with environmental test chambers and control systems.
• Familiarity with leak test equipment and methodologies.
• Experience developing test solutions for high-volume manufacturing environments.
• Experience performing Design for Testability (DFT) reviews.
• Familiarity with RF measurement techniques and instrumentation.
• Experience with schematic capture and PCB layout tools such as Cadence OrCAD or Allegro.

Skills

• Communication Protocols
  • Ethernet / TCP-IP
  • Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth / BLE
  • CAN / CAN FD
  • RS-232 / RS-485
  • EtherCAT
  • I²C
  • SPI
  • 1-Wire
  • USB
• Programming and Development Tools
  • NI TestStand
  • NI LabVIEW
  • Python
  • C
  • C#
  • Linux OS / Scripting
  • Git or other version control systems
• Test Equipment
  • Oscilloscopes
  • Digital Multimeters
  • Power Supplies
  • Signal Generators
  • Frequency Analyzers
  • RF Test Equipment
  • Environmental Chambers
  • Automated Test Equipment (ATE)
  • Leak Test Systems