Hardware Design Engineer

Hardware Design Engineer

Job Title:

Hardware Design EngineerJob DescriptionThis role focuses on designing, building, and supporting high-reliability hardware for autonomous systems used in both military and commercial vehicles. You will work with a small team of engineers to develop next-generation autonomous platforms and maintain existing fielded designs, with a strong emphasis on digital hardware, power systems, networking components, and sensor integration. The position combines hands-on circuit and PCB design, power supply development, system integration, and rigorous validation to ensure safety-critical performance in demanding environments.

Responsibilities

• Design high-reliability and high-safety-critical hardware for commercial and military autonomous vehicles, including embedded computers, power systems, networking components, and sensor interfaces
• Develop and maintain PCB and CCA designs that incorporate SoCs, microprocessors and microcontrollers, and interfaces such as DDR, I2C, CAN, SPI, SerDes, and automotive Ethernet
• Design power supplies for both in-house PCBs and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, ensuring robust performance in harsh operating conditions
• Split time between next-generation system design and sustaining existing fielded designs, including updates, enhancements, and issue resolution
• Generate comprehensive design documentation to support long-term maintainability, including stress analysis, power budgets, firmware and hardware interface specifications, signal integrity (SI) and power integrity (PI) analysis, and component and design trade studies
• Provide technical leadership on projects by guiding a small, focused team of electrical engineers through the full lifecycle of new hardware designs, from concept and architecture through production release
• Propose and execute prototyping tests to reduce risk at the component, subsystem, and system levels, ensuring early detection of design issues
• Perform validation testing of designs through analytical methods, simulation tools, and hands-on hardware testing
• Conduct hardware bring-up, debugging, and validation at the board and subsystem levels, including troubleshooting complex digital and analog circuits
• Maintain and update design verification test matrices to ensure complete coverage of requirements and verification activities
• Participate actively in interdisciplinary design teams and formal design reviews, contributing hardware expertise and feedback
• Collaborate closely with systems, safety, software, test, other engineering disciplines, and procurement throughout all phases of the product development lifecycle
• Identify and implement design improvements to reduce cost, increase yield, and improve manufacturing throughput for existing and new products
• Provide production build support from prototype manufacturing through volume ramp-up, addressing build issues and optimizing manufacturability
• Mentor and train junior engineers, sharing best practices in hardware design, validation, and documentation
• Use digital design and electrical engineering expertise to support autonomous vehicle hardware development, including automotive-focused applications
• Leverage Altium Designer or similar schematic capture and PCB layout tools to implement and maintain complex multi-layer PCB designs.

Essential Skills

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering
• 6+ years of hardware design experience, including digital and analog circuit design
• Proficiency in designing and simulating complex digital and analog circuits using circuit simulation and SI/PI tools such as LTSpice and HyperLynx
• Experience working with analog signals and high-speed digital signals at 3 GHz and above
• Experience designing high-power and high-speed PCB stackups for high-reliability and high-safety-critical systems
• Strong problem-solving skills and hands-on abilities in hardware design, integration, and debug
• Working knowledge of common test equipment, including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and vector network analyzers (VNAs)
• Familiarity with design, analysis, and manufacturing standards for complex multi-layer PCBs
• Ability to solve complex technical problems independently while balancing project and system constraints
• Ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams and collaborate across engineering disciplines and procurement
• Experience with design for cost, test, and manufacturing, including considerations for scalability and volume production
• Experience using Altium Designer or similar schematic capture and PCB layout software
• Solid understanding of digital hardware design concepts for autonomous and automotive systems
• Experience in electrical engineering, digital design, and power supply design for embedded systems.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Experience working in a small engineering team environment, contributing across multiple aspects of the hardware development lifecycle
• Experience with automotive hardware design, including systems used in autonomous or driver-assist applications
• Experience designing networking hardware, including high-speed data links and ruggedized communication interfaces
• Experience designing embedded computer hardware, including integration of processors, memory, and high-speed interfaces
• Experience with automotive camera system designs, including GMSL and

MIPI CSI-2

interfaces

• Familiarity with safety standards such as ISO-based functional safety frameworks and

MIL-STD-882E

• Familiarity with electrical and environmental standards such as MIL-STD-1275, MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-464, and

MIL-STD-810

• Experience in heavy engineering and test environments, including exposure to rugged, mission-critical systems
• Interest in or experience with autonomous systems for ground-based applications, particularly in defense or industrial contexts.

Work EnvironmentThe role is based in a heavy engineering and test environment w you will work closely with hardware, test equipment, and integrated autonomous systems. The position emphasizes on-site collaboration in labs and test facilities, with flexibility to work from home 1-2 days per week depending on productivity and project needs. You will regularly interact with embedded computers, power systems, networking hardware, and sensor suites, using tools such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, VNAs, and PCB design software like Altium Designer. The environment supports close collaboration with multidisciplinary teams and involves hands-on work with prototypes, production units, and fielded systems in a setting focused on reliability, safety, and mission-critical performance.

Job Type & LocationThis is a Permanent position based out of Clarksburg, MD.Pay and BenefitsThe pay range for this position is $120000.00

• $160000.

00/yr.......................................................Workplace TypeThis is a fully onsite position in Clarksburg,MD.Application DeadlineThis position is anticipated to close on May 22, 2026.About ActalentActalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 30,000 consultants and more than 4,500 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500.The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, g... Visit the Employer site for more details