Senior Sensor Architect, Edge Tech

Amazon • Sunnyvale, CA

5d

About The Position

Amazon Lab126 is an inventive research and development company that designs and
engineers high-profile consumer electronics. Lab126 began in 2004 as a
subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., originally creating the best-selling Kindle
family of products. Since then, we have produced groundbreaking devices like
Fire tablets, Fire TV and Amazon Echo.
What will you help us create?

Key job responsibilities
As a Senior Sensors Architect, you will engage with an experienced
cross-disciplinary staff to conceive and design innovative consumer products.
You will work closely with an internal inter-disciplinary team, and outside
partners to drive key aspects of product definition, execution, and testing. You
must be responsive, flexible, and able to succeed within an open collaborative
peer environment.
In this role, you will:
• Architect sensing systems into world-class devices and cutting-edge
prototypes.
• Own end-to-end sensor architecture definition and development.
• Interpret customer requirements to develop technology specifications.
• Perform sensor technology selection and address all aspects of technology
readiness, including manufacturability.
• Lead Prototype and Proof of Concept developments.
• Investigate emerging technologies and help mature them for mass-production.
• Lead internal initiatives to evaluate and develop new technologies.
• Collaborate with design teams to develop sensor subsystem designs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams and stakeholders across
the company.
• Build relationships with component vendors and oversee manufacturing partners.
• Dive into and take ownership to root-cause and resolve critical design and
manufacturing issues.
• Establish robust processes and methodologies to deliver technology to
products.
• Up to 20% travel.

A day in the life
• Work with product teams and cross-functional engineering teams to come up with
new solutions for future Amazon devices.
• Evaluate and select sensing solutions to meet product requirements.
• Review hardware designs (e.g. CAD, schematics, layout, etc.) from partner
teams.
• Provide input on sensor placement and architecture.
• Explore new and emerging sensing capabilities and modalities to deliver new
user experiences to Amazon customers.
• Run data analysis and make design trade-off decisions.
• Run sensor simulations to determine sensor performance given system
constraints.
• Investigate new sensor architectures to improve customer experience, reduce
cost, or add new features.
• Review and update processes to remove bottlenecks and optimize development
workflows.
• Write design guidelines based on acquired experience and knowledge, that will
be used on subsequent projects.
• Write comprehensive sensor architecture document.

Requirements

• Experience in developing functional specifications, design verification plans and functional test procedures
• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or equivalent
• Experience with DFx (Design for cost, test, manufacturing)
• Sensor Depth and Breadth in a combination of the following categories: Optical, Inertial, Environmental, Bio-chemical, Ultrasonic, Thermal.
• 7+ years’ experience as a hardware engineer with majority focus on sensors.
• System level integration experience including hardware/software interfacing, fixture design, sensor testing and troubleshooting

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree in electrical engineering or equivalent
• Experience writing and publishing technical documents or equivalent
• Experience with Windows and Linux operating systems
• Background in Physics.
• Factory support experience.
• Functional knowledge of analog design blocks including filters, PLLs, oscillators, charge pumps, DACs, ADCs etc.
• Hands-on experience with physical characterization of sensors
• Experience collaborating with the ECAD/physical board designer and able to review PCB designs with Allegro, CAM350, or equivalent
• Experience with quantitative and statistical data analysis using Software tools such as Matlab, Mathematica or Python.
• Experience using lab equipment such as logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, optical power meters, linear and rotation stages, etc.
• Experience with simulation tools (Zemax, COMSOL, ANSYS, etc.)
• Experience of semiconductor/MEMS manufacturing processes.
• Experience developing with Labview, .Net/C#, Android, IOS or Qt

Responsibilities

• Architect sensing systems into world-class devices and cutting-edge prototypes.
• Own end-to-end sensor architecture definition and development.
• Interpret customer requirements to develop technology specifications.
• Perform sensor technology selection and address all aspects of technology readiness, including manufacturability.
• Lead Prototype and Proof of Concept developments.
• Investigate emerging technologies and help mature them for mass-production.
• Lead internal initiatives to evaluate and develop new technologies.
• Collaborate with design teams to develop sensor subsystem designs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams and stakeholders across the company.
• Build relationships with component vendors and oversee manufacturing partners.
• Dive into and take ownership to root-cause and resolve critical design and manufacturing issues.
• Establish robust processes and methodologies to deliver technology to products.
• Up to 20% travel.
• Work with product teams and cross-functional engineering teams to come up with new solutions for future Amazon devices.
• Evaluate and select sensing solutions to meet product requirements.
• Review hardware designs (e.g. CAD, schematics, layout, etc.) from partner teams.
• Provide input on sensor placement and architecture.
• Explore new and emerging sensing capabilities and modalities to deliver new user experiences to Amazon customers.
• Run data analysis and make design trade-off decisions.
• Run sensor simulations to determine sensor performance given system constraints.
• Investigate new sensor architectures to improve customer experience, reduce cost, or add new features.
• Review and update processes to remove bottlenecks and optimize development workflows.
• Write design guidelines based on acquired experience and knowledge, that will be used on subsequent projects.
• Write comprehensive sensor architecture document.

Benefits

• health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage)
• 401(k) matching
• paid time off
• parental leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level