Sr. Engineer – Electronics Hardware/Value Engineering

Senus, a Xylem brand, seeks to hire a Senior Hardware Development Engineer who will be part of a team responsible for the design, development, verification and sustaining of a wide variety of products that are the responsibility of the Global Electrical Engineering Functional team. This includes, but is not limited to, water, electric and gas meters, smartpoint radios, cathodic protection devices, smart gateways, Distribution Automation products, handheld computers, installation and interrogation devices and a wide variety of RF communication products. These products are state-of-the art microcontroller or DSP based embedded systems, typically with integrated radios, where the electronic design may be battery or mains powered and must operate in harsh environments for 20 years.  This position will be located in Vadadora, India with a reporting structure including the HW Development Manager in Morrisville, NC.

The Senior Hardware Development Engineer will be part of the Global Electrical Engineering Team consisting of dedicated and talented individuals responsible for the development, test and support of products comprising the Sensus water, gas and electric families. The team designs, tests and supports products that meet utility and industry requirements as well as internal requirements for reliability, performance, accuracy, and cost. As part of the Global Hardware team this person will:
 

• Execute on sustaining engineering tasks that may include:
  • Qualification of alternate components
  • Redesigning products to deal with supply side shortages
  • Investigate customer, manufacturing and quality issues.
    • Identify root cause
    • Propose plans for resolution balancing commercial, quality, customer, reliability, manufacturing requirements
    • Execute on the selected resolution option
  • Updating manufacturing test specifications to address production concerns
  • Updating manufacturing test specifications to address throughput constraints and test coverage limitations
  • Write change requests and change notices
  • Update design documentation as needed
  • Engage with Reliability and Regulatory teams to co-ordinate test efforts

• As product line familiarity grows, engage on new product development efforts from concept through transition to high volume production. This may start with being a team member on a specific section of a HW project and evolve into total ownership of a hardware development activity.

• Research available and emerging technologies to identify those that may be applicable for use in evolving the capabilities and offerings of new products.  Create proposals to enable detailed evaluation of said technologies and execute evaluations.  Apply commercial knowledge of the local market to decisions that affect the strategic direction of the product line.

• Interact with the mechanical and firmware teams during project execution, ensuring a common understanding of the scope of the task exists and decisions are made that take into consideration the perspectives of each team. Collaborate throughout the entire development cycle to ensure a product is delivered that meets all requirements.
   
• Establish and execute a hardware designer test plan to ensure the design is well centered, meets the product requirements and operates properly over all environmental conditions.

• Design products to adhere to design for test and manufacturability guidelines.

• Perform detailed current consumption analysis and evaluation on all new product releases (HW and FW) to validate compliance with energy constraints.  Update process and methods to improve automation, efficiency and repeatability.

• Collaborate with the global EE team to ensure project status and technical direction is aligned with the larger team, share experiences and participate in design reviews on multiple programs.
   
• Contribute to the continued development of processes and procedures in multiple areas.

• Occasional domestic and international travel may be required.

Minimum Qualifications
 

The successful candidate must have:

• Minimum B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering
• 4 – 8 years of electrical design experience, preferably focused on analog/digital design of battery operated embedded systems.
• Experience with the design of small signal circuits (microvolt range) and maintaining signal/noise ratios in an RF environment
• Experience using schematic capture and PCB layout tools (Altium preferred), analog simulation (LT Spice or equivalent), typical lab tools such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzer, power supplies, multimeters, etc.
   
• Experience with Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design For Test (DFT) practices

• Excellent testing and troubleshooting skills
   
• The ability and desire to work in a fast paced team environment, working with a cross functional global team (e.g. electrical, firmware, mechanical and system test engineers) to execute projects in the most efficient manner possible.
   
• The ability to evaluate and make recommendations on cost control, reliability and manufacturability issues while maintaining aggressive development schedules.
   
• Work individually or as a team.

• Excellent communications skills

• Strong sense of ownership, willingness to engage across team boundaries to improve collaboration, solve challenges and overcome hurdles.

• Exposure to manufacturing of electronics assemblies required

Plus

Keen understanding of manufacturing operations as related to printed circuit board assembly

Familiarity with manufacturing process of printed circuit boards and rigid/flexible PCB technologies