Senior Staff Engineer - Electrical
About the role
Vector Atomic, an IonQ company, is building quantum technology to transform navigation, timing, geophysical exploration, and telecommunications. Our team of engineers, scientists, software developers, and operations professionals works together to solve complex challenges and turn bold ideas into real-world solutions. We value collaboration, curiosity, and diverse perspectives, and we give every team member the opportunity to make an immediate impact while growing their skills.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with physicists, electrical, mechanical, software, and optical engineers to translate system and schematic requirements into electronic designs for next-generation quantum instruments
- Own the end-to-end development of complex printed circuit boards (PCBs), including gathering requirements, designing schematics and layouts, coordinating fabrication, and verifying design performance
- Aid with system integration and testing to ensure instrument specifications are met
- Drive continuous improvement by updating and refining PCB designs, development processes, and engineering procedures
- Support manufacturing operations by troubleshooting customer-reported issues, developing test verification and assembly procedures, and ensuring boards meet yield, quality, and testability targets
- Assist with electronic board bring-up and debugging activities, documenting PCB rework and tracking issues as they arise
- Use electronic test and measurement equipment to characterize and verify board performance
- Maintain accurate and up-to-date design documentation in a cloud-based Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system, including revisions and Engineering Change Orders (ECOs)
Requirements
- Ph.D. or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field with 12+ years of professional experience, or equivalent practical experience
- 8+ years of professional electrical design experience developing complex mixed-signal PCBA designs using professional ECAD tools; experience with Altium Designer is strongly preferred
- Comfortable working in a laboratory environment, including testing and debugging hardware using standard electronic instrumentation
What We're Looking For
- Expertise in design high-density PCBs with fine-pitch BGAs, high-speed differential pairs, and mixed-signal architectures using modern ECAD tools such as Altium Designer
- Expert understanding of system-level design considerations for programmable devices such as SoCs, FPGAs, and MCUs
- Design precision electronics with tight noise and ripple specifications, making design tradeoffs between competing requirements including size, weight, power, cost (SWaPC), and performance goals
- Define and implement controlled impedance structures (microstrip, stripline, and differential pairs), signal integrity strategies, power distribution networks, grounding schemes, and EMI/EMC-aware layout practices
- Use a PLM system to manage PCBA designs, including creating and managing Engineering Change Orders (ECOs)
- Demonstrate strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across engineering teams
Benefits
- Platinum-level family health coverage (medical, dental, vision)
- Health and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
- Employer 401(k) contributions
- 20 days of paid time off / 11 paid holidays
- Paid parental leave
- Fully stocked kitchen
Pay Range
The approximate base salary range for this position is $175,000 to $215,000 per year. The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity and benefits. Please note that it is less common for candidates to be hired at the top of this range, as final compensation is determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.