EE Design & Test Engineer - Apple

Polluxa, Inc.; Emeryville (CA); On-site; USD 123,000 - 214,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical coverage

Retirement benefits

Discounted Apple products

Job summary

Apple seeks an Module Test Instrumentation & Automation Engineer to design electronic hardware and supporting software for sensor characterization. You will contribute to schematic design, PCB oversight, and software layers that connect test hardware to automation infrastructure.

Responsibilities include developing interfaces, Python-based automation tools, and collaborating across hardware, firmware and software teams to ensure precise, reliable instrumentation integrated into characterization

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
• Experience designing schematics and reviewing PCB layouts for analog/mixed-signal hardware.
• Firmware development in C/C++ for embedded microcontrollers and sensor interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Design analog and mixed-signal schematics for sensor evaluation boards and data acquisition hardware.
• Oversee PCB layout with attention to signal integrity and noise isolation.
• Develop software interfaces and Python tools to control test hardware
• Collaborate with firmware, hardware, and software teams for hardware bring-up
• Perform hardware debugging with scopes, analyzers, and precision test gear
• Support hardware variants and manage hardware revisions throughout development

Skills

Python automation

C/C++ embedded

Sensor characterization

Signal integrity

English communication

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium Designer

Cadence

Verilog/VHDL

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Job description

The Motion Sensing Hardware team at Apple develops sophisticated test systems and instrumentation that support cutting‑edge sensing technologies in consumer products. This role offers an opportunity to join a team that designs, builds, and validates the custom hardware infrastructure used to characterize inertial, pressure, and magnetic sensors throughout the product development lifecycle. We invite motivated and innovative electrical engineers to help create the test instrumentation that gives our team unmatched insight into sensor performance. As a Module Test Instrumentation & Automation Engineer, you will be responsible for designing the electronic hardware and supporting software that underpin the team's sensor characterization capability. Your work will span schematic design, PCB layout oversight, and the software layers that connect custom test hardware to the team's broader automation infrastructure. You will bring together deep electrical engineering fundamentals and strong software development skills to deliver instrumentation that is precise, reliable, and tightly integrated with the team's characterization workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design analog and mixed-signal schematics for sensor evaluation boards, test fixtures, and custom data acquisition hardware used in IMU, pressure, and compass characterization
• Oversee PCB layout for test hardware, reviewing for signal integrity, noise isolation, power supply rejection and measurement accuracy
• Develop software interfaces and APIs that expose test hardware functionality to higher-level automation and data collection tools
• Write Python-based tools and scripts to automate hardware bring-up, functional verification and calibration of custom test instrumentation
• Perform board-level debug using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers and precision measurement equipment to validate hardware behavior
• Collaborate with characterization engineers to translate sensor test requirements into hardware specifications
• Collaborate with firmware engineers to define embedded interface requirements for custom test hardware
• Collaborate with data automation engineers to ensure test hardware integrates cleanly into shared data collection and analysis pipelines
• Manage schematic revision control, maintaining clear documentation of hardware versions throughout the product development cycle
• Support bring-up of new sensor variants on evaluation hardware, identifying and resolving signal chain issues at the hardware-software boundary

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent
• Hands-on experience designing schematics and reviewing PCB layouts for analog, mixed-signal or precision measurement applications
• Firmware development experience in C/C++ for embedded microcontrollers, including peripheral driver development, sensor communication drivers and hardware bring-up
• Experience with FPGA development using Verilog or VHDL for high-speed data capture or custom sensor interface logic
• Familiarity with MEMS sensor operation and the signal chain requirements for characterizing IMU, pressure and magnetometer devices
• Experience designing for low-noise, high-resolution measurement applications including careful attention to grounding, shielding and EMI mitigation
• Experience with DFT and DFM considerations for test hardware used in production or high volume characterization environments
• Familiarity with sensor fusion concepts and how hardware design choices influence system level accuracy
• Experience developing hardware abstraction layers or SDK-style interfaces that allow firmware to be reused across multiple hardware revisions
• Experience with version control systems and firmware CI/CD workflows for embedded software
• Familiarity with data automation frameworks and how embedded test systems interface with host-side data pipelines
• Experience with consumer electronics product development cycles, including EVT/DVT/PVT hardware bring-up phases
• Passion for precision measurement and building instrumentation that enables the team to move faster with higher confidence

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum requirement of a bachelors degree
• Proficiency with industry-standard schematic capture tools (Altium Designer, Cadence, or equivalent)
• Strong analog design fundamentals: signal conditioning, filtering, amplifier selection, noise analysis, and power supply design for precision measurement
• Familiarity with common sensor communication interfaces (I2C, SPI, UART) and ability to debug signal integrity issues at the hardware level
• Proficiency with lab instrumentation: oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers, LCR meters, and precision voltage references
• Proficiency in Python for test automation, hardware control, and data collection scripting
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills, with the ability to document hardware designs clearly and collaborate across hardware, firmware and software disciplines

Pay & Benefits

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $122,700 and $214,300, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple's discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple's Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You'll also receive benefits including:

• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage
• Retirement benefits
• A range of discounted products and free services
• For formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses - including tuition

Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation. Learn more about Apple Benefits

Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.