Electrical Engineer - Hardware Validation

Electrical Engineer – Product Testing

Location: On-Site in Clarksburg, MD

Clearance: Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

Salary Range: $90,000 – $165,000

Our client, a defense autonomy company, is seeking a mid to senior level Electrical Engineer with strong experience in hardware validation, automated test systems, and test fixture development to support the design, bring-up, and production validation of electronic systems used in autonomous vehicle platforms.

What You'll Do

• Design hardware validation strategies for boards and subsystems used in autonomous vehicle platforms
• Develop automated test systems for engineering validation, regression testing, and manufacturing screening
• Design and build custom test fixtures, harnesses, and interface boards
• Develop automated test scripts to exercise hardware interfaces (Ethernet, CAN, SPI, I2C, power systems)
• Design and debug digital/analog circuits for embedded systems, networking hardware, and power subsystems
• Lead board bring-up and hardware debugging using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and power analyzers
• Perform root cause analysis on hardware issues found during validation and field testing
• Develop and maintain ECAD designs (Altium or equivalent), reviewing for signal/power integrity and testability
• Collaborate cross-functionally with firmware, manufacturing, and mechanical teams

Minimum Qualifications

• Strong experience in hardware validation and automated test development
• Hands-on experience designing test fixtures, hardware test adapters, or validation systems
• Deep familiarity with hardware debugging and lab instrumentation
• Strong understanding of design-for-test (DFT) and validation methodologies
• Basic knowledge of networking configurations and protocols
• Strong problem-solving skills across mixed hardware/software issues

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with automated hardware test systems (Python, Boundary Scan, or similar)
• Experience with automotive, defense, or high-reliability hardware systems
• Familiarity with networking hardware, embedded systems, or robotics platforms
• Exposure to signal/power integrity analysis
• Familiarity with ISO 26262, MIL-STD, or other reliability standards