Job Details

Job Title: Electrical Systems Engineer (Embedded HW/FW & Support)
Location: Elmhurst, IL - Onsite or 2-3 Days Hybrid (Candidates residing
Position: Full-Time Direct Hire

Overview
TalentFish is casting a line foran Electrical Systems Engineer - Embedded HW/FW & Support! We are seeking a hands-on Electrical Systems Engineer to lead electrical system design while contributing to firmware, factory support, returns (RMA), touch sensor tuning, and customer support with our client.

What You'll Do - Role Responsibilities:

Electrical system design (35%)

1. Lead schematic capture, PCB-level electrical design and component selection for new products and revisions.

1. Design analog and digital circuits, power delivery, signal integrity considerations, and EMC mitigation strategies.
2. Produce and review design documentation, BOMs, and verification plans.
3. Work closely with mechanical, software, and test engineering to ensure system-level integration and reliability.

Firmware development (15%)

1. Implement and maintain embedded firmware features tied to electrical interfaces and sensors.
2. Debug hardware/firmware interactions and provide targeted fixes or workarounds in collaboration with firmware engineers.
3. Contribute small-to-moderate firmware changes focused on enabling hardware functionality and resolving integration issues.

Factory support (10%)

1. Support manufacturing ramp-up: review test fixtures, create/validate production test procedures, and troubleshoot production issues.
2. Work with contract manufacturers to clarify assembly and test requirements, and implement corrective actions to improve yield.

RMA support (5%)

1. Investigate returned units to root-cause hardware failures and interact with firmware and test teams as needed.

Develop and document repair procedures, failure modes, and preventative design changes to reduce return rates.

Touch sensor tuning (20%)

1. Tune and validate touch sensor performance (capacitive or other touch technologies) across hardware revisions and environmental conditions.

Develop tuning procedures, thresholds and baseline algorithms, and verify performance in lab and field scenarios.

Customer support (15%)

1. Serve as a technical escalation for customers, partners, and support teams on electrical and touch-sensor related issues.
2. Provide actionable troubleshooting steps, documentation, and firmware/hardware recommendations to resolve customer-impacting problems.

Time Allocation for primary responsibilities

1. Electrical circuits, boards and system designs and test, debug - 35%
2. Touch sensor tuning and designing (capacitive/gesture/etc.) - 20%
3. Customer support (technical escalations pre and post sale) - 15%
4. Firmware development - 15%
5. Factory support - 10%
6. RMA (returns & repairs) support - 5%

What You'll Bring - Your Qualifications:

1. Degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering Technology, or equivalent experience.
2. Demonstrated experience in electronic system design (schematic capture, PCB design, component selection) for power, board to board communications, and peripherals with EMC/EMI in mind.
3. Practical experience debugging hardware and hardware/firmware interactions.
4. Basic embedded firmware knowledge (C/C++) and build tools, and experience with peripheral interfaces (I2C/SPI/UART); Experience designing, building, controlling and deploying FW for production environments
5. Experience using electrical engineering tools and test equipment
6. Familiarity with production test development and supporting manufacturing.
7. Experience investigating RMAs and implementing corrective actions.
8. Strong communication skills for cross-functional collaboration and customer-facing interactions.

Preferred Skills

1. Experience tuning and validating touch sensors (capacitive or comparable technologies).
2. Proficiency with common PCB layout tool(s) and workflows.
3. Experience with power supply design, signal integrity, EMC/EMI testing.
4. Experience working with contract manufacturers and production test systems.
5. Familiarity with test automation and data-driven failure analysis.

What You Can Expect
Working Conditions & Expectations:

1. Hands-on lab work with prototypes and production hardware/fw.
2. Occasional onsite presence at manufacturing or test facilities or customer site as needed
3. Collaboration across firmware, mechanical, electrical, sales, QA, project management, customers, and contract manufacturers.
4. Switching gears and focused on prioritized outputs

What this job is:

• Hands on everyday
• Independent and collaborative
• 20+ customer projects/products per year; short design cycles, lots of shifting between projects and priorities
• Interfacing customers to produce customer requirements
• Process oriented
• Figuring new stuff out
• Creating Documentation
• For an individual contributor, owner and SME for all electrical system and circuit designs from concept to production, new designs and existing designs, with factory, customer and field support
  • Must have recent experience designing circuits with microcontrollers from scratch (analog and digital), using a schematic capture tool, and releasing products to production, as the owner, for at least 5 years and 5+ products. A role where products were designed for internal use is not relevant/ideal for comparable experience.
• Prefer to have Altium expertise in schematic capture and layout.
• FW engineer owning all embedded fw development, control/release, sensor tuning, and factory support. Must have built firmware for microcontrollers from conception to production for at least 5 products, for a company selling embedded hardware products that are released to the field.
• Must have experience controlling designs, electrical and firmware.

What this job isn't:

• One product project per year, long design and build cycle
• A support EE/FW person, 1 of many EE/FW
• Slow pace, low urgency, procrastination, micromanagement required
• A management position

What Our Client Offers

• Opportunity to drive core electrical and fw designs and see the product through manufacturing, integration into customer product and field support.
• A cross-functional role with technical variety spanning hardware, firmware, manufacturing, and customer interaction.
• Opportunities to integrate new technologies to increase the organization's HMI offerings and bring fast growth to your tech skills.

Compensation Information
This role requires authorization to work in the U.S. without current or future visa sponsorship. The expected salary range for this position is $105,000 - $135,000 per year, depending on experience and qualifications. This role also qualifies for comprehensive benefits such as health insurance, 401(k), and paid time off. TalentFish is committed to pay transparency and equal opportunity. The salary range provided is in compliance with applicable state and federal regulations. All offers are contingent upon the completion of a background check, which may include but is not limited to: reference checks, education verification, employment verification, drug testing, criminal records checks, and any required certifications or compliance requirements based on the end client's background check policies and applicable laws.

TalentFish is an employee-owned company pioneering a new realm in talent acquisition. We are redefining IT staffing by evolving AI, video screening, and our unique platform. TalentFish focuses on providing the best employee, consultant, and client experience possible. At TalentFish we are an Equal Opportunity Employer; we embrace and encourage diversity.