What are the responsibilities and job description for the Principal Electronic System Engineer position at Patton Electronics Co.?
Patton is seeking a senior, hands‑on electrical engineering leader to provide technical authority and team leadership for the design of secure, mission‑critical electronic systems supporting defense, aerospace, and secure communications markets.
This role combines system‑level electrical architecture, low‑emissions / information‑assurance‑driven design, and direct leadership of the electrical and PCB design team. The successful candidate will remain actively involved in design execution while setting technical direction, ensuring compliance with government and customer requirements, and mentoring engineers working on sensitive, high‑reliability systems.
Core Responsibilities
System Architecture & Secure Design
- Serve as electrical system architect for secure communications and mission‑critical products, from requirements definition through production release.
- Define and implement system‑level electrical architectures addressing:
- EMI/EMC and emissions control
- Signal integrity, power integrity, and grounding
- Enclosure bonding, shielding, and cable interfaces, including:
- Design and review solutions requiring TEMPEST or TEMPEST‑like mitigation techniques
- Conducted and radiated emissions reduction
- Filtering, shielding, grounding, and isolation strategies
- RED/BLACK separation concepts and controlled interfaces
- Layout and mechanical integration techniques to limit unintended emanations
- Interpret customer, program, and regulatory requirements related to secure electronics and translate them into actionable engineering designs.
Hands‑On Electrical & PCB Engineering
- Personally contribute to schematic design, key PCB architecture decisions, and prototype bring‑up for complex boards.
- Provide deep technical oversight of:
- Mixed‑signal, high‑speed digital, RF-adjacent, and power electronics
- Multi‑layer PCB stackups, controlled impedance, and EMI‑aware layout practices
- Lead and participate in formal schematic and layout reviews, risk assessments, and design trades.
Electrical & PCB Design Team Leadership
- Lead, mentor, and technically develop the Electrical and PCB Design Engineering team.
- Establish and enforce engineering standards, design review rigor, and documentation quality appropriate for defense and aerospace programs.
- Assign work, balance technical loads, and serve as escalation authority for complex or high‑risk design challenges.
- Support hiring, onboarding, and career development of engineers working on secure and mission‑critical systems.
Cross‑Disciplinary & Program Collaboration
- Work closely with mechanical engineering to ensure enclosure design, shielding effectiveness, grounding schemes, and thermal management meet mission requirements.
- Collaborate with firmware, software, manufacturing, and supply‑chain teams to deliver producible, supportable designs.
- Interface with customers, program managers, test labs, and manufacturing partners to communicate technical decisions and risks effectively.
- Support qualification, compliance, and acceptance testing activities tied to customer and regulatory expectations.
Compliance, Reliability & Lifecycle Support
- Support EMI/EMC, environmental, and safety compliance efforts common to defense and aerospace products.
- Ensure designs support long‑lifecycle availability, obsolescence mitigation, and sustainment strategies.
- Provide technical support through production, deployment, and field issue resolution as needed.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent (Master’s preferred).
- 10 years of professional electrical engineering experience, including system‑level design ownership.
- Demonstrated experience acting as a technical lead or principal engineer while remaining hands‑on.
- Strong background in:
- Electrical system architecture
- Schematic capture and PCB design
- EMI/EMC‑constrained design environments
- Practical experience with TEMPEST, emission‑security‑driven design, or similar shielding and information‑assurance techniques, or substantial experience designing electronics for highly controlled EMI/EMSEC environments.
- Experience delivering products for defense, aerospace, secure communications, or similarly regulated markets.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting DoD, government, or allied customers.
- Familiarity with qualification and compliance test processes and third‑party test laboratories.
- Understanding of long‑lifecycle product support and configuration control.
- Prior leadership experience in a small‑to‑mid‑size engineering organization where technical leaders remain hands‑on.
Desired Attributes
- Credible technical authority respected by engineers and program stakeholders
- Disciplined, security‑aware design mindset
- Practical problem‑solver who balances rigor with schedule and cost
- Clear communicator capable of defending design decisions internally and externally