Electrical Engineer Jobs in Irvine, CA

About the Company

FUTEK is a leading manufacturer of precision sensor technology, specializing in load cells, torque sensors, and measurement solutions used across industries like aerospace, medical, robotics, and manufacturing. Our mission is to enable innovation through highly accurate measurement solutions that power real-world applications. At FUTEK, we combine engineering excellence with a collaborative, growth-oriented culture—giving employees the opportunity to make a tangible impact while continuing to develop their skills.

Job Summary:

The Lead Electrical Hardware & Systems Engineer will own the architecture, design, validation, and release of electrical hardware for FUTEK precision sensor and instrumentation products. This role is intended for a seasoned engineer who can operate with high independence, define hardware direction, and drive electrical design decisions across firmware, software, mechanical, test, manufacturing, quality, and product stakeholders.

The position focuses on analog and mixed-signal sensing electronics, low-noise signal conditioning, data acquisition, power and protection circuits, PCB design, manufacturability, and hardware/firmware integration. Success in this role includes delivering production-ready hardware, improving hardware development and release practices, mentoring engineers, and helping establish scalable technical direction for future product platforms.

Essential Functions:

• Own electrical hardware architecture, schematic design, PCB design oversight, validation, and release activities for precision sensor, instrumentation, and embedded measurement platforms.
• Develop analog, mixed-signal, and digital circuits for signal conditioning, bridge/sensor interfaces, excitation, data acquisition, ADC/DAC integration, power management, protection, and communication interfaces.
• Define hardware requirements, electrical interfaces, design constraints, PCB stackups, component-selection strategy, BOM structure, DFM/DFT expectations, reliability considerations, and system-level tradeoffs in collaboration with firmware, software, mechanical, test, manufacturing, quality, and product stakeholders.
• Create and review schematics, PCB layouts, component placement, routing, fabrication/assembly notes, calculations, simulations, manufacturing packages, ECOs, and release documentation using Altium Designer and controlled engineering workflows.
• Lead board bring-up, hardware validation, characterization, troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and corrective actions using schematics, oscilloscopes, multimeters, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, power supplies, electronic loads, thermal tools, and other lab equipment.
• Collaborate with firmware and software engineers to support front end, sampling, sensor calibration, low-level interfaces, board-support requirements, diagnostics, production programming, and hardware/firmware integration.
• Support embedded and industrial interface hardware where applicable, including CAN, Ethernet, USB, RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, UART, SPI, I2C, IO-Link, and other communication or gateway-related design requirements.
• Develop and execute hardware verification, design-review, release-readiness, manufacturing-test, and production-support plans, including test procedures, test reports, design documentation, and technical risk assessments.
• Provide technical guidance, mentorship, design-review leadership, and project/task coordination for engineers and cross-functional contributors while maintaining direct ownership of critical hardware deliverables.

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related technical field; advanced degree preferred but not required.
• 10+ years of professional experience developing electrical hardware, embedded hardware, mixed-signal electronics, or production-intent PCB designs for instrumentation, sensor, industrial, or similar products.
• Strong hands-on analog and mixed-signal design experience, including signal conditioning, filtering, amplifiers, precision references, ADC/DAC integration, sensor interfaces, power supplies, and protection circuits.
• Demonstrated ownership of hardware development from requirements and architecture through schematic design, PCB implementation, validation, documentation, release, and production support.
• Strong experience with schematic capture, PCB layout review, component selection, BOM control, DFM/DFT, manufacturing documentation, and controlled engineering release practices using Altium Designer or similar tools.
• Hands-on experience troubleshooting hardware, PCB, power, signal integrity, noise, EMC/ESD, manufacturing, and hardware/firmware integration issues using schematics, lab equipment, and structured root-cause analysis.
• Proven ability to communicate technical risks, lead schematic/layout/design reviews, mentor engineers, document decisions, and collaborate across firmware, software, mechanical, test, manufacturing, quality, and product functions.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with precision measurement, sensors, instrumentation, Wheatstone bridge circuits, strain-gauge or load/torque/pressure sensor interfaces, low-noise analog front ends, high-resolution ADCs, excitation supplies, ratiometric measurement, calibration workflows, or low-noise embedded electronics.
• Experience with industrial and embedded interface hardware such as CAN, CANopen, J1939, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, IO-Link, EtherCAT, Modbus RTU/TCP, TCP/IP, UDP/IP, USB, RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, UART, SPI, and I2C.
• Experience with microcontroller- or processor-based hardware platforms such as Microchip/PIC, STM32/STMicro, NXP, Renesas, or similar families, including practical collaboration with firmware teams on board support and bring-up.
• Experience with EMI/EMC, ESD protection, surge/transient protection, grounding/shielding strategy, isolation, thermal considerations, CE/FCC or other regulatory test preparation, and reliability-oriented design practices.
• Experience supporting manufacturing test, SMT/PCB assembly, production fixtures, vendor/supplier communication, failure analysis, field returns, corrective actions, ECOs, and production-readiness reviews.
• Experience with simulation and analysis tools such as LTspice, SPICE, MATLAB/Simulink, tolerance analysis, power/thermal analysis, signal/power-integrity review, or similar engineering-analysis workflows.

Supervisory Responsibility:

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Work Environment:

Much of this job is conducted in an office setting while utilizing standard office machinery. However, job requires frequent visits to the Production area where the employee may be frequently exposed to airborne particles, mild fumes and moving mechanical parts and vibration. The noise level in the office setting is considered low. The noise level in the Production area is considered moderate.

Physical Demands:

Role requires regular computer-based engineering work, hands-on use of electronic test equipment, review of schematics and technical documentation, and occasional work near production/test areas. Candidate should be able to handle small electronic assemblies, follow ESD and lab-safety practices, and perform reasonable lab setup, debugging, and prototype validation tasks with or without reasonable accommodation.

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Equal Opportunity Statement

FUTEK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We participate in E-Verify. Final candidates may be required to successfully complete a background check and drug screening, where permitted by applicable law