Senior Hardware QA & Diagnostics Engineer

Tarana Wireless, Inc.•Milpitas, CA

13d•$130,000 - $175,000

About The Position

Tarana is scaling field deployments 5x, and we’re looking for a senior engineer to own the technical execution and continuous improvement of hardware failure analysis and diagnostics. You will lead investigations from the returned unit through root cause, disposition, and corrective action, while building the automation, data, and cross-functional processes that allow HW QA to scale with the fleet. As a Senior Hardware QA & Diagnostics Engineer you will have broad technical influence and ownership across multiple components. You’ll lead ambiguous investigations, propose clear next steps, and partner closely with Hardware, Firmware, Software, Manufacturing, Customer Support, and Field teams; turn ambiguous field and production failures into evidence-based conclusions; and help define validation strategy for new hardware. You’ll also help mentor engineers and raise the quality and consistency of the team’s diagnostic practices.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent.
5+ years of hands-on experience in hardware QA, failure analysis, embedded systems, electronics troubleshooting, or a comparable role; equivalent depth of experience is also considered.
Demonstrated ownership of complex hardware investigations from symptom through root cause and corrective action, including proposing next steps, tracking action items, and verifying that fixes remain effective over time.
Strong practical proficiency with lab equipment, including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, and serial/console tools.
Ability to isolate hardware faults from firmware, software, configuration, and test-environment issues.
Strong Python and/or Bash skills for automation, data extraction, log parsing, and diagnostic tooling.
Experience working in embedded Linux environments and interpreting system, kernel, boot, and application logs.
Experience developing test plans, defining acceptance criteria, improving QA or failure-analysis processes, and creating practical roadmaps for new diagnostic features and capabilities.
Excellent technical writing, organization, and communication skills, including the ability to influence cross-functional decisions with evidence.
Ability to work independently in ambiguous situations, prioritize competing investigations, and drive issues to closure.

Nice To Haves

Experience with RF or wireless systems, GPS/GNSS, timing, high-speed digital interfaces, memory, or power systems.
Experience with new-board bring-up, subsystem qualification, automated test stations, or production test integration.
Familiarity with hardware/software traceability, manufacturing data, RMA systems, and fleet-level quality metrics.
Experience mentoring engineers or leading cross-functional technical projects without direct authority.
Familiarity with automated test frameworks, CI pipelines, data visualization, or statistical failure analysis.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end RMA and failure-analysis investigations: review field evidence, reproduce failures, isolate root cause, determine disposition, propose clear next steps, coordinate follow-through, and drive corrective actions to closure.
Own the technical quality and timeliness of hardware diagnostic results, including clear separation of hardware, firmware/software, configuration, and no-fault-found cases
Define and improve diagnostic methods, test plans, acceptance criteria, lab procedures, and data-collection standards.
Design and maintain production-quality Python/Bash automation and reusable tools for bench testing, log analysis, test-station workflows, and trend detection.
Lead complex investigations involving RF, memory, power, serial interfaces, Linux boot, GPS, and timing subsystems.
Partner with Hardware, Firmware, Software, Manufacturing, and Customer Support to resolve issues and communicate evidence-based recommendations.
Identify systemic trends across returned units, manufacturing data, and field reports; quantify recurrence, recommend preventive actions, track corrective actions through verification, and monitor results to ensure issues do not resurface.
Lead power-on verification, subsystem qualification, Linux boot validation, and diagnostic readiness for new hardware revisions.
Lead process improvements that reduce failure-analysis cycle time and no-fault-found rate, increase automation coverage, improve final unit dispositions, and create roadmaps for diagnostic capabilities and feature support.
Mentor other engineers and contribute to technical standards, documentation, and team operating practices.
Receive returned field units and develop an efficient investigation plan based on the reported symptoms and available evidence.
Use oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, serial consoles, network tools, and other lab equipment to validate hypotheses.
Analyze embedded Linux logs, firmware behavior, telemetry, test output, and hardware measurements together rather than in isolation.
Build focused experiments that distinguish intermittent, environmental, hardware, and software-related failure modes.
Document findings so that another engineer can reproduce the reasoning, results, and recommended disposition.
Represent HW QA in design reviews, failure reviews, bring-up planning, and cross-functional issue reviews.
Evaluate and apply AI-assisted diagnostic tools where they improve investigation speed, consistency, or fleet-scale pattern recognition.