Embedded Hardware Engineer Job Summary
LMI Corporation is seeking an Embedded Hardware Engineer with hands-on experience in analog/digital circuit design, mixed-signal electronics, schematic capture, PCB design, hardware prototyping, and electronic product development.
This role is ideal for an Electronics Design Engineer, Mixed-Signal Engineer, PCB Design Engineer, or Embedded Systems Hardware Engineer who has personally designed circuits, developed printed circuit boards, built prototypes, tested hardware, and supported products through production.
This is primarily a hardware design position. The successful candidate will work on precision measurement products involving sensors, low-noise analog electronics, microcontrollers, communication interfaces, and industrial instrumentation.
Firmware experience is helpful, but strong mixed-signal electronics and PCB development experience are the primary requirements.
About LMI Corporation
LMI Corporation designs and manufactures high-precision measurement and gauging systems used in automotive, aerospace, glass, and industrial manufacturing applications.
Our products combine precision mechanical systems, electronic hardware, sensors, embedded controls, data acquisition, wireless communication, and software.
Our engineers have the opportunity to take products from initial concept through circuit design, PCB development, prototyping, testing, manufacturing, and production release.
Key Responsibilities
The Embedded Hardware Engineer will:
- Design analog, digital, and mixed-signal electronic circuits
- Develop low-noise analog front-end and sensor signal-conditioning circuits
- Create electronic schematics and printed circuit board layouts
- Design multi-layer PCBs using Altium Designer or comparable PCB design software
- Select electronic components based on performance, availability, cost, and lifecycle requirements
- Develop circuits involving operational amplifiers, instrumentation amplifiers, filters, ADCs, DACs, power supplies, and microcontrollers
- Create Bills of Material and support engineering documentation
- Build, solder, assemble, and modify electronic prototypes
- Perform PCB bring-up, functional testing, verification, and troubleshooting
- Use oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, logic analyzers, function generators, and bench power supplies
- Diagnose analog noise, signal integrity, grounding, power, communication, and component-related issues
- Work with firmware engineers or develop basic embedded firmware for hardware testing
- Support prototype and production PCB builds
- Work with suppliers and contract manufacturers
- Improve existing products through redesign, component substitution, reliability improvements, and cost reduction
- Support products throughout the complete electronic product-development lifecycle
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field, or equivalent professional experience
- At least two years of hands-on electronic hardware design experience
- Experience designing analog or mixed-signal electronic circuits
- Experience creating schematics and PCB layouts
- Experience taking a circuit design from concept through working prototype
- Experience debugging newly designed electronic hardware
- Experience using standard electronic laboratory and test equipment
- Ability to work on-site in Fenton, Michigan
Required Analog Circuit Design Experience
Candidates should have practical experience with several of the following:
- Operational amplifier circuits
- Instrumentation amplifiers
- Analog filters
- Sensor signal conditioning
- Low-noise analog design
- Precision analog measurement
- ADC and DAC interfaces
- Voltage references
- Power supply design
- Analog grounding and shielding
- Component tolerance analysis
- Noise reduction
- Circuit stability
- Signal amplification
- Data acquisition electronics
Required PCB Design Experience
Candidates should have experience with:
- Schematic capture
- Printed circuit board layout
- Component placement
- Multi-layer PCB design
- Ground and power planes
- Analog and digital signal separation
- PCB grounding strategies
- Design for Manufacturing
- Design for Test
- Component library creation or management
- Gerber and manufacturing-file generation
- Prototype PCB assembly
- PCB bring-up and troubleshooting
Experience with Altium Designer is preferred. Experience with Cadence Allegro, OrCAD, KiCad, PADS, Mentor Graphics, Eagle, or comparable PCB design software will also be considered.
Embedded Hardware Experience
Experience with one or more of the following is preferred:
- STM32 microcontrollers
- Microchip PIC or AVR microcontrollers
- Texas Instruments microcontrollers
- NXP microcontrollers
- ARM Cortex microcontrollers
- Embedded C or C++
- SPI
- I²C
- UART
- CAN
- USB
- RS-232
- RS-485
- Ethernet
- Bluetooth Low Energy
- Zigbee
- Wireless sensor systems
Laboratory and Prototyping Skills
The ideal candidate is comfortable performing hands-on engineering work, including:
- Soldering
- Fine-pitch component rework
- Surface-mount device rework
- Breadboard prototyping
- Perf-board prototyping
- Prototype assembly
- Cable and connector fabrication
- Oscilloscope measurements
- Logic-analyzer troubleshooting
- Analog signal measurements
- Hardware failure analysis
- PCB modification and rework
Preferred Industry Experience
Experience in any of the following industries is especially relevant:
- Industrial instrumentation
- Test and measurement
- Precision measurement
- Data acquisition
- Sensor electronics
- Scientific instruments
- Automotive electronics
- Aerospace electronics
- Medical devices
- Industrial automation equipment
- Embedded electronic products
- Wireless measurement systems
- Manufacturing technology
What Success Looks Like
Successful candidates will be able to describe electronic products or circuit boards they personally helped design.
Strong candidates can clearly explain:
- The purpose of the circuit or product
- Their personal responsibility for the design
- The analog circuits they designed
- The PCB-layout work they performed
- How they selected important components
- How they tested the prototype
- Problems encountered during PCB bring-up
- How they diagnosed and corrected design failures
- How the product transitioned into manufacturing or production
We are especially interested in candidates who have personally taken a product through several of these stages:
- Product concept
- Circuit architecture
- Component selection
- Schematic design
- PCB layout
- Prototype assembly
- Hardware bring-up
- Circuit debugging
- Design verification
- Production release
This Position May Be a Good Fit If You Are Currently Working As A
- Embedded Hardware Engineer
- Electronics Design Engineer
- Mixed-Signal Design Engineer
- PCB Design Engineer
- Electrical Hardware Engineer
- Embedded Systems Engineer
- Hardware Development Engineer
- Electronic Product Development Engineer
- Instrumentation Engineer
- Sensor Electronics Engineer
- New Product Development Engineer
- R&D Electronics Engineer
This Position Is Not Primarily Focused On
This is not primarily a PLC programming, industrial controls, electrical power distribution, wiring-harness design, systems validation, compliance testing, or firmware-only position.
Candidates with those backgrounds are welcome to apply when they also have substantial hands-on experience designing analog circuits and printed circuit boards.
Why Join LMI Corporation?
- Design complete electronic products from concept through production
- Work on precision measurement and sensor technologies
- Receive significant ownership of hardware-development projects
- Build and test the products you design
- Work in a small, collaborative engineering environment
- Contribute directly to future product development
- Support a wide variety of industrial applications
- Avoid being limited to one small portion of a large development program
Application Instructions
Please include examples of electronic products, analog circuits, or printed circuit boards you have personally designed.
Project descriptions, portfolios, PCB images, schematics, technical summaries, or links to relevant work are encouraged when available.
In your application, briefly describe:
- One analog or mixed-signal circuit you designed
- One PCB you personally laid out or substantially developed
- Your role during prototype bring-up and debugging
- The electronic test equipment you regularly use
LMI Corporation is an equal opportunity employer.
Pay: $80,000.00 - $120,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Professional development assistance
- Relocation assistance
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
