Electrical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics

OpenAI•San Francisco, CA

4d•$318,000 - $485,000•Onsite

About The Position

OpenAI’s Robotics team is seeking a senior individual-contributor Electrical Engineer to lead printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) test infrastructure for advanced robotic systems. The role owns delivery of electrical test systems from architecture and circuit design through validation, deployment, and reliable operation, translating evolving requirements into working test stations and making technical tradeoffs along the way. The work combines development-lab engineering with deployment at contract manufacturers. The engineer will develop systems for board bring-up, programming, functional testing, and characterization, partnering with mechanical, firmware, software, manufacturing, and reliability teams to take validated stations from prototypes into repeat builds. The position is based in San Francisco, California, and requires in-person presence four days per week. Travel to contract-manufacturer sites is required as build and deployment needs dictate.

Requirements

Demonstrated ability to independently deliver significant electronics test-system projects from ambiguous requirements through working hardware, validation, and sustained use.
Hands-on capability in circuit and fixture-interface design, schematic interpretation, board bring-up, power delivery, signal switching, and instrument integration.
Ability to independently debug PCBAs and test hardware using oscilloscopes, meters, logic analyzers, and systematic root-cause investigation.
Ability to write, debug, and maintain code that interfaces with real hardware in Python or a comparable language, including instrument control, sequencing, error handling, and structured result logging.
Practical understanding of grounding, signal integrity, calibration, measurement uncertainty, ESD controls, power sequencing, and electrical protection.
Ability to release clear test and hardware documentation, coordinate across engineering disciplines, and support hands-on deployment and troubleshooting at contract manufacturers.
Strong intuition for analog and digital circuits, power delivery, electronics debugging, and reliable measurement.
Ability to move from architecture and circuit design to soldering, probing, scripting, and lab troubleshooting.
Care for grounding, shielding, contact quality, calibration, and evidence that a test detects the faults it is intended to find.
Ownership from prototype through reliable daily operation, balancing rapid iteration with clear documentation and maintainable test systems.

Nice To Haves

Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Prior PCBA functional-test or automated-test-equipment experience, including design for test, test coverage, fixture correlation, and new-product builds at contract manufacturers.
Experience with embedded programming, diagnostic firmware, and board interfaces such as JTAG/SWD, UART, SPI, I²C, CAN, or Ethernet.
Experience with PCB design tools, shared test-automation frameworks, production data systems, or robotics hardware.

Responsibilities

Own PCBA test-station architecture, including device-under-test interfaces, programmable power, electronic loads, signal routing, instrumentation, and protection.
Translate board requirements and likely failure modes into test coverage, measurement methods, and pass/fail criteria; partner with board designers on design for test, test-point access, programming interfaces, and diagnostics.
Design and bring up fixture interface boards, switching circuits, harnesses, and connectors; release schematics, PCB layouts, wiring diagrams, bills of materials, and interface definitions.
Integrate oscilloscopes, meters, power supplies, loads, and data-acquisition hardware; validate calibration, timing, accuracy, and repeatability across stations and board revisions.
Develop and debug programming and communications interfaces such as JTAG/SWD, UART, SPI, I²C, CAN, and Ethernet as required by the board; diagnose power, signal-integrity, grounding, and contact problems.
Design and validate current limiting, power sequencing, ESD protection, interlocks, and fault recovery appropriate to the hardware under test.
Partner with mechanical engineers on probe access, connector mating, board support, cooling, and serviceability; work with firmware and software partners to define interfaces and integrate stations with shared software.
Write, debug, and maintain test code for instrument control, board programming, automated sequences, diagnostics, and result logging; collaborate with software partners on reusable frameworks, code reviews, and reliable releases.
Establish station commissioning, calibration, maintenance, and configuration control; track board identity and revision, firmware version, test limits, and station configuration with each result.
Use reference boards, independent measurements, and deliberate fault checks to distinguish board failures from fixture or software errors; improve test coverage, false-failure rate, cycle time, and station uptime.
Own test-station deployment and acceptance at contract manufacturers, including station correlation, build support, operator training, and troubleshooting; release configurations and documentation that keep lab and factory results consistent.
Commission a reusable PCBA test station with documented coverage, acceptance criteria, and traceable results, and deploy and validate a reproducible configuration at a contract manufacturer.
Demonstrate measurement repeatability and intended fault detection using reference boards, independent measurements, and known-fault cases; track false failures, cycle time, and uptime against agreed improvement targets.
Release hardware documentation, versioned test code, commissioning checks, and troubleshooting procedures that enable lab and contract-manufacturer teams to reproduce, operate, and maintain the station.