Lead Engineer

Nielsen-Kellerman Co • Boothwyn, PA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead Engineer at Nielsen-Kellerman Co. (“NK”) is a technical leader driving a diverse portfolio of low-power electronic products from concept through production. The Lead Engineer owns simultaneous cross-functional projects spanning hardware, firmware and mechanical engineering, working with Product Management on requirements, running sprints and managing priorities and risks. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can balance strategic project ownership with real engineering depth, and who's energized by keeping fast-moving, multidisciplinary projects on track.

Requirements

• 4-year BS degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or other relevant engineering specialty or equivalent training, certifications or experience
• 7+ years of experience developing physical electronic products with at least 3 years in a technical/project lead role spanning multiple disciplines
• Demonstrated experience taking products through the full “concept-to-customer” lifecycle
• Working knowledge of low-power electronics design principles (component selection, power budgeting, sleep-modes) sufficient to evaluate tradeoffs
• Familiarity with embedded firmware development practices and constraints (RTOS vs. bare-metal, low-power techniques, communication protocols such as BLE, Wi-Fi and Cellular)
• Understanding of mechanical design and injection molding sufficient to asses mechanical tradeoffs and participate in reviews of deliverables
• Track record of managing project budgets, schedules and resource allocation, including making scope/MVP tradeoff decisions under constraints
• Proven experience running Agile/Scrum or similar sprint-based processes for hardware development, including backlog management and cross-functional sprint planning
• Experience identifying and mitigating technical, schedule and supply-chain risk on hardware programs, including component sourcing/lead-time risk
• Familiarity with relevant compliance and quality standards for electronic products (FCC/CE, UL/IEC safety standards, RoHS/REACH) and experience driving products through certification
• Strong track record of leading design reviews and enforcing engineering best practices (version control, design documentation, test planning) across a multidisciplinary team
• Excellent cross-functional communication skills, with experience translating between Product Management's requirements and engineering execution
• Demonstrated ability to make and own decisions under ambiguity, and to lead engineers without direct reporting authority
• Proficiency with project tracking and version control tools such as Jira, ClickUp, Git, GitHub/GitLab; familiarity with standard engineering tools for the relevant disciplines (schematic/PCB CAD, mechanical CAD)
• Fluent in written and spoken English

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree or other advanced certifications
• Direct experience developing low-power, battery operated electronics
• Hands-on experience with wireless connectivity stacks (BLE, Thread/Matter, Wi-Fi, cellular IoT/LTE-M/NB-IoT)
• Experience with cloud-connected or app-paired hardware products, including familiarity with how firmware/hardware decisions affect the companion app or backend
• Prior experience standing up or improving engineering processes from scratch
• Experience managing/working with outside contractor resources

Responsibilities

• Be an integral part of a “concept-to-customer” design team launching new low-power electronic products every year and sustaining and improving existing designs
• Own simultaneous cross-functional projects (Hardware, Firmware, Mechanical)
• Work with Product Management to define functional requirements and storyboards
• Balance budget and resource constraints against project scope and MVP features
• Prioritize and organize overall work, avoiding cross-functional roadblocks
• Proactively identify/develop mitigation plans for technical, schedule and supply chain risks
• Organize and run sprints, technical reviews and status meetings
• Remove roadblocks, champion and make key decisions that keep projects moving
• Dig into and help solve technical problems across disciplines
• Manage the interface between engineering and external partners/contractors
• Drive design reviews, ensuring deliverables meet quality, compliance and manufacturing standards
• Enforce engineering best practices (version control, design review, testing standards) across the engineering team

Benefits

• medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance
• family medical, life insurance, critical care insurance, FSA dependent care and pet insurance
• HSA with employer contribution
• 401k with employer match up to 5% at time of eligibility after 90 days of employment
• 9 paid holidays, one floating holiday and flexible PTO
• Paid Maternity/Paternity leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree