Senior Hardware Test Engineer

• Decarbonization is the process to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, from entering our atmosphere.

• Electrification is the process of replacing fossil fuel appliances that run on gas or oil with all-electric upgrades for a cleaner way to power our lives.

   

• Enabling homes and vehicles powered by clean energy

• Making electrification upgrades possible

• Building more resilient homes with reliable backup

• Designing a flexible and distributed electrical grid

SPAN is seeking an experienced and driven hardware test engineer who can contribute to all stages of development. In this role, you will rely on your past experience to develop a comprehensive hardware test program for new products and support any reliability issues that arise in the field. You will work with the electrical, mechanical, and systems teams to implement test plans, build out our in-house testing capabilities, and work with outside labs as needed.

In this position, you will be:

• Contributing to the design-for-reliability and validation strategy for SPAN’s future electrical products.

• Defining and executing test plans to validate performance, reliability, and compliance of circuit boards and system-level electronics (e.g. power converters, energy metering, and communication interfaces).

• Developing automated test setups using Python and Linux command-line tools for data collection, logging, and analysis.

• Collaborating with hardware design engineers to translate design requirements into detailed test specifications.

• Performing electrical validation and stress testing, including power cycling, fault injection, communication robustness, and analog/digital signal characterization.

• Analyzing test data, applying statistical methods where appropriate, and presenting clear, actionable findings to design and leadership teams.

• Working hands-on in the lab: setting up instrumentation, soldering/debugging boards, and executing electrical tests.

• Supporting regulatory, compliance, and safety testing (FCC, UL, IEC, NEC).

• Driving root-cause analysis of test failures and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

Required Qualifications

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering (or related field).

• 5+ years experience developing and executing validation or reliability tests for electronic hardware.

• Understanding of power electronics, analog circuits, and digital communication interfaces.

• Experience using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, and other lab instrumentation for electrical validation.

• Experience with analysis of test results including statistical analysis techniques.

• Experience with scripting languages, particularly Python.

• Ability to perform hands-on work including test setup, instrumentation, soldering, and debugging.

• Excellent technical writing skills with experience drafting test documentation.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a detail-oriented mindset.

• Effective communicator and team collaborator.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience leading projects with a diverse team under tight timelines.

• Experience working safely with high voltage equipment (up to 600V).

• Experience working with and testing AC and/or DC power systems.

• Knowledge of national and international safety and regulatory requirements such as UL, National Electric Code (NEC), IEC, and ISO.

• Experience with root cause analysis (RCA) of field failures.

• Prior experience managing junior test technicians and mentoring junior test engineers.

Headquartered in San Francisco’s vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a ‘make it happen’ approach to addressing complex challenges.

SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.

We’re hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN.