What are the responsibilities and job description for the Electrical Engineer position at Chirp?
Job Title: Electrical Engineer
Location: Lehi, Utah
Company: Chirp
Job Type: Full-time
About Chirp
At Chirp, our mission is to bring relief to as many people as possible, creating a world where pain is eased, energy is restored, and self-care is simple and effective. To fulfill this promise, every interaction with the Chirp brand must reflect our expertise, clarity, and friendly approach to delivering relief to the world.
Job Summary:
We are seeking an experienced Junior Electrical Engineer to execute the electrical design for our next generation of consumer products. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of embedded systems, PCB design, wireless technologies, motor control, and power management. Responsibilities will include electrical design from architectural definition to schematic capture and PCB layout to board bring-up and mass production support. This role requires a high attention to detail and the ability to collaborate seamlessly with cross-functional teams to deliver innovative and reliable products.
Key Responsibilities:
- System Architecture: Work with Senior Engineers to define the electrical system for new products, including detailed block diagrams, component research and selection, and communication interface specifications.
- Component Selection: Select and propose key electrical components, including microcontrollers, wireless modules (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.), sensors, motors, motor controllers, power management ICs, and batteries, with a willingness to review component selection with Senior Engineers.
- Schematic and Layout: Perform schematic capture and PCB layout of complex, multi-layer circuit boards, ensuring signal integrity, power integrity, EMC/EMI compliance, and IPC (Class II) compliance.
- Prototyping and Validation: Build, test, and debug your own prototype PCBAs as well as those designed by Senior Engineers. Perform board bring-up and functional verification ensuring designs meet all Engineering requirements.
- Power Management: Design and optimize power management circuits, such as DC-DC converters and low-power modes for long battery life.
- Firmware Collaboration: Write firmware for prototype boards using C/C programming language. Work closely with firmware engineers at our suppliers to define hardware-firmware interfaces. Support the development of embedded software.
- Test and Manufacturing Support: Develop and implement test procedures for design validation, verification, and production testing. Support manufacturing partners to resolve electrical issues and ensure a smooth ramp to production.
- Compliance: Ensure all designs comply with relevant regulatory standards (e.g., FCC, CE, UL/ETL) from the initial design phase.
- Documentation: Create and maintain comprehensive technical documentation, including schematics, Bills of Material (BOMs), test plans, and design specifications.
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate with cross-functional teams including mechanical, industrial design, software, and manufacturing. Participate in brainstorming sessions at initial project conception, as well as mid-project peer reviews and phase gate design reviews.
- International Travel: Willingness to travel to Asia occasionally when needed. Ability to clearly communicate project specifications and concerns with foreign manufacturing partners.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related field.
- 3 - 8 years of experience in Electrical or Computer Engineering, with a minimum of 2 years in a role developing consumer products.
- Experience working on all phases of the Product Life Cycle, including taking a product from concept to mass production.
- Experience with schematic capture and PCB layout tools (e.g., Altium Designer, OrCAD, KiCad, Mentor Graphics, etc.). Altium Designer experience a plus.
- Experience with firmware development tools such as Arduino, MPLAB X, MCUXpresso, or similar IDE. Experience with C/C compilers.
- Experience with analog and digital circuit design and understanding of best practices for PCB layout.
- Good understanding of embedded systems design, including Microcontroller Units (MCUs) or Microprocessor Units (MPUs) (8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, ARM, DSP, etc.) and their peripherals.
- Understanding of serial communication interfaces, such as SPI, I2C, UART, USB, etc.
- Experience with wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth LE (BLE), Wi-Fi, NFC, etc.
- Strong background using test equipment such as digital multimeters (DMMs), oscilloscopes, power supplies, digital logic analyzers, protocol sniffers, etc.
- Experience with signal integrity, power integrity, and EMC/EMI analysis and mitigation.
- Strong background using Microsoft Office products.
- Ability to hand-solder small surface-mount (SMD) components such as 0402 components, TQFP, QFN, SOT-23, SOIC, TSSOP, etc.
- Excellent problem-solving skills, with a rigorous and methodical approach to debugging complex systems.
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
- Strong organizational skills.
- Ability to work cohesively in a team with members of other disciplines.
- Willingness to learn and take direction from senior engineers.
- Self-motivated and self-driven. Can take a task and run with it.
Preferred Skills:
- Experience with high-speed digital design.
- Knowledge of DFM and DFA principles for PCBA design.
- Experience in a regulated industry (e.g., medical devices, toys) a plus.
- Familiarity with scripting languages for automation (e.g., Python) a plus.
- Familiarity with Agile workflow a plus.
- A passion for consumer electronics and a drive to create innovative products that redefine user experiences.
Benefits:
- Competitive salary and bonus structure
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k)
- Paid time off and holidays
- Opportunities for professional development and growth
- A collaborative and innovative work environment