Electrical Test Engineer

Required Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related engineering discipline

• Hands-on experience testing PCBAs and board-level electronic assemblies

• Strong understanding of:

• Power supply circuits

• Sensor inputs

• Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architectures

• Experience injecting electrical signals and verifying correct system behavior, including software interpretation of those signals

• Working knowledge of boards operating on microcontrollers, microprocessors, and/or FPGAs

• Experience loading firmware or software onto embedded hardware

• Familiarity with communication interfaces such as Ethernet and common communication protocols

• Ability to break down board designs and signals at the schematic level during debug and test

• Extensive hands-on experience with electrical test equipment, including:

• Oscilloscopes

• Power supplies

• Digital multimeters

• Signal generators

• Electronic loads

• Experience designing or supporting custom test fixtures and test harnesses

• Ability to set up and operate thermal chambers, run thermal tests, and collect data using data loggers

• Strong skills in post-processing test data to identify failures, trends, and abnormal behaviors

Electrical engineering depth beyond a technician-level background

Nice to Have Skills & Experience

• Experience supporting aerospace, defense, UAV, or automotive hardware programs

• Background working with complex systems such as air vehicles or safety-critical electronics

• Experience collaborating closely with hardware design engineers during the test planning phase

• Junior to mid-level engineers who are highly motivated to specialize in hardware testing and validation

• Exposure to rigorous hardware validation environments (aerospace, automotive, military, or high-reliability electronics)

Job Description

A large defense technology client is seeking a dedicated Electrical Test Engineer to sit onsite in Costa Mesa, CA. This role involves taking board-level designs developed by hardware design engineers and owning the test planning, execution, and analysis needed to validate performance across electrical and thermal conditions.

The Electrical Test Engineer will work hands-on with complex PCBAs used in aerospace, UAV, and automotive systems. This position requires strong electrical fundamentals, schematic-level understanding, and the ability to diagnose failures through detailed signal analysis and data-driven testing. This role fills a critical gap between design engineering and production by providing deeper engineering-level test expertise beyond technician capabilities.

*12 month contract with possibility of full time hire**