Sr. Hardware Engineer

This role is a hands-on technical leadership position focused on sustaining and improving the manufacturability, yield, reliability, and testability of complex transponder products. While centered on production sustainment and yield improvement, it also offers opportunities for new product design and development once sustainment challenges are under control.

Responsibilities

• Rapidly assess existing transponder designs, production flows, test coverage, and failure data, and prioritize and execute improvements that increase first-pass yield, throughput, and product reliability.
• Lead sustainment and production improvement efforts by identifying and resolving significant issues in sustaining production and proactively addressing problems that impact yield and quality.
• Own hardware production-support activities for digital, mixed-signal, and RF assemblies, including failure analysis, troubleshooting, corrective actions, and coordination with manufacturing and suppliers.
• Develop, document, and maintain production test fixtures, board-screening equipment, automated test equipment (ATE), and associated test software or scripts.
• Design robust test methods for PCBAs and transponder assemblies, including functional, parametric, calibration, environmental, and RF performance screening as appropriate.
• Create comprehensive test plans, procedures, acceptance limits, and data-recording methods that provide clear, repeatable production evidence and enable trend analysis.
• Use production and test data to identify systemic issues, lead root-cause analysis, and implement corrective and preventive actions with measurable results.
• Own recurring component obsolescence and end-of-life redesign efforts from impact assessment through design, verification, qualification, documentation, and release to production.
• Evaluate replacement components and alternate sources for electrical, RF, mechanical, environmental, supply-chain, and certification impacts, and define and execute the evidence needed to qualify changes.
• Review and improve schematics, PCB layouts, component selections, RF signal paths, power integrity, grounding, shielding, and design-for-test and design-for-manufacture features.
• Drive engineering change orders (ECOs), obsolescence redesigns, alternate-component qualification, supplier technical engagement, and production transitions without compromising performance or compliance.
• Collaborate closely with firmware engineers on embedded interfaces, FPGA and digital bring-up, automated test control, and hardware diagnostics.
• Support hardware design activities as necessary, contributing to both sustaining engineering and new product development efforts.
• Support new-product development and verification, including requirements development, design reviews, bench testing, environmental qualification, and flight-test support.
• Maintain clear engineering documentation, configuration-controlled test artifacts, and concise technical reports for internal stakeholders and external reviews.
• Act as a key stakeholder in new designs by participating in design reviews, providing constructive feedback, and influencing design decisions.
• Own the creation of custom test equipment used for production, screening, and verification of transponder products.
• Contribute across functional boundaries in a small, fast-paced environment by taking ownership, communicating clearly, and supporting cross-functional initiatives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
• 8+ years of progressively responsible hardware engineering experience, including hands-on work with digital, mixed-signal, and RF electronic products.
• Well-rounded hardware experience spanning digital, mixed-signal, RF, and analog circuits.
• Demonstrated success supporting production hardware and improving manufacturing yield, test coverage, reliability, or throughput.
• Demonstrated experience leading component obsolescence investigations, redesigns, or alternate-source qualifications through released production hardware.
• Strong practical RF experience with transmitters, receivers, filters, amplifiers, mixers, frequency synthesis, impedance matching, shielding, grounding, and RF measurement techniques.
• Strong digital hardware experience, including high-speed interfaces, microcontrollers or processors, memory, power supplies, mixed-signal interfaces, and FPGA-connected circuitry.
• Experience designing or improving PCBAs, including schematic capture, PCB layout review, stack-up considerations, signal integrity and power integrity awareness, and design-for-manufacture and design-for-test practices.
• Full lifecycle design experience with Altium, from schematic capture through manufacturing release.
• Experience creating automated test systems, fixtures, or production screening equipment, with proficiency in test automation environments, scripting, and instrument control.
• Strong diagnostic and troubleshooting skills using oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, signal generators, logic analyzers, digital multimeters, and related laboratory equipment.
• Ability to interpret test data, isolate root causes, make sound engineering judgments, and drive practical fixes with minimal supervision.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a disciplined approach to documentation, configuration management, and cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Experience with aviation, avionics, transponders, ADS-B, surveillance, or safety-critical electronic products.
• Experience in a regulated design and manufacturing environment, such as AS9100, DO-160, DO-254, or comparable quality and design-assurance practices.
• Experience with LabVIEW, Python, C or C++, MATLAB, NI hardware, or similar tools used for automated test and data analysis.
• Experience with environmental screening, HALT or HASS, ESS, vibration, temperature, and qualification testing.
• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers and component suppliers to resolve production and quality issues.
• Preferred experience designing boards for test stations and production test fixtures.
• Preferred experience with boards that include FPGAs, especially in systems integrating processors, FPGAs, power supplies, communication signals, and RF paths for transmitting and receiving signals.
• Experience with a variety of high-speed interfaces, processors, and microcontrollers, with exposure to diverse compute platforms.
• Firmware familiarity or experience collaborating with firmware teams on embedded interfaces, automated test control, and hardware diagnostics.
• Motivation to take ownership of custom test equipment development and to act as a key stakeholder in new hardware designs.
• Interest in a long-term role that offers stability, opportunities for growth, and a mix of sustainment and new product development.
• Ability to thrive in a small, fast-paced environment, contributing across functional boundaries and adapting to evolving priorities.

Work Environment

This is an onsite role, working five days a week in a small, fast-paced hardware development and production environment. You will work hands-on with digital, mixed-signal, RF, and analog hardware, focusing on transponder products and related test systems. The environment emphasizes close collaboration with production, firmware, systems, quality, and suppliers, and involves frequent use of laboratory equipment such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, signal generators, logic analyzers, and digital multimeters. Activities range from bench-level debugging and test fixture development to production support and design reviews, with a strong focus on ownership, clear communication, and cross-functional teamwork.

Benefits

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms.

• Medical, Dental & Vision
• 401(k)/Roth
• Basic/Supplemental Life & AD&D
• Short and long-term disability
• HSA & DCFSA
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Company Paid Time off or State Sick Leave
• 10 days of vacation leave/PTO annually in addition to paid sick leave provided by Washington state law or local ordinances

Pay

The pay range for this position is $62.50 - $67.31/hr. Individual compensation offered within this range will depend on qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Schedule

This is a Contract to Hire position based in Bingen, WA, with an anticipated closing date of September 3, 2026. The role is fully onsite, requiring five days a week on location.