Principal Electrical Engineer

Cubic•San Diego, CA

About The Position

This position is for a clearly experienced Senior Level Circuit Card Assembly (CCA) Design Engineer. We’re looking for someone with a long detailed and proven track record designing 10+ multi-layer, low-loss, state-of-the-art high-speed CCAs. You need to understand customer requirements and derive requirements as needed to guide the design efforts. Most the circuits cards we develop have some or all of the following: large FPGAs, microprocessors, DDR2/3/4/5 memory, Flash memory, PCIe-Gen2/3/4, Ethernet 10/100/1000, USB 2.0/3.0, SD card, RS-232, RS-422, I2C, UARTs, and SPI interfaces supporting audio, video, GPS, etc. A strong knowledge of switching and linear power supplies is a must. Low inductance “across frequency” PDN design knowledge is a must. This engineer should be very familiar with high-speed (10+ Gbps SerDes) signal integrity, channel tuning and simulation (i.e. via impedance tuning, press-fit connector attach impedance tuning and cross-talk minimization, via back-drill technology, all aspects of 3D interconnect design and analysis). A detailed knowledge of raw PCB materials, PCB FAB processing, statistics, and PCB processing SPC is a plus. The tools we use include Altium Designer, Mentor Graphics HyperLynx SI/PI, LT Spice, Xilinx Vivado, Matlab, Polar Speedstack + SI9000 , CST, HFSS, etc. The Senior System Electrical Engineer is responsible for the development of circuit cards from cradle to grave. This responsibility includes component selection and component life-time management, implementing and understanding both flat and hierarchical schematic designs, current high performance raw PCB materials, how to optimize glass styles and copper roughness to develop the best cost performance stackups, how to drive layout and to work with the Fabrication and Assembly houses. Also responsible for the initial prototype bringup, testing, documentation, power analysis, test procedure creation, design for manufacturing, and the development of ATE (Automated Test Equipment) and ATP (Automated Test Procedure). Performs complex electrical engineering duties following designated standards and procedures. Works closely with other engineering disciplines. Duties require application of engineering principles and techniques. This job requires strong analytical and technical abilities and demands fast, but carefully thought-out results. Strong leadership and control of the work process from beginning to end is necessary. This position typically works under limited supervision and direction. Incumbents of this position regularly exercise discretionary and substantial decision-making.

Requirements

Four-year college degree in Electrical Engineering, plus ten years of related experience, or an applicable Master’s degree with eight years of related experience.
Effective written and oral communication skills.
Experience in creating, analyzing, and documenting system and subsystem designs.
Ability to use personal computer software such as spreadsheets and word processing programs and requirement management database tools.
Mental ability to perform engineering problem solving and analytical tasks.
Must be able to work under project deadlines and associated cost and schedule constraints.
Must be eligible to obtain a DOD Security Clearence (current clearance desired)
Must be willing to travel

Nice To Haves

Desired experience in designing, developing and testing hardware.

Responsibilities

Ability to interpret system level requirements
Responsible for the design, analysis, testing, and documentation of state-of-the-art Circuit Card Assemblies (CCA)
Responsible for schematic design using Altium Designer
Specifies highly optimized PCB stackups based on the latest low loss materials and glass styles
Develops circuit, component, subsystem, and equipment interfaces and procurement specifications
Designs digital, analog or radio frequency circuits, components, and subsystems
Author of detailed and comprehensive electrical layout rules based on proven statistically significant empirical data
Prepares design specifications, analyses and recommendations
Performs circuit interconnection or subsystem prototype assembly
Prepares design and operation objectives, specifications and resource needs
Recommends test control, strategies, apparatus and equipment
Supports the interfaces with customers, contractors and marketing vendors
Evaluates vendor capabilities to provide required products or services
Conducts in-house design reviews and technical meetings
Prepares design proposal to reflect cost, schedule and technical approaches
Monitors project status and progress
Keeps abreast of improvements in electronic engineering techniques
Support prototype construction, debug and tests
Develop logic flowcharts and block diagrams
May give work assignments and check work of technicians or design support personnel on a common project
May provide technical direction and guidance to Design Engineers, Technicians, or Design Support personnel