Electrical Engineer

Vaco; Gahanna (OH); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Vaco by Highspring seeks a Senior Electrical Engineer in Columbus, Ohio for a hybrid schedule (4 days onsite, 1 remote). You will design power components, PCBs, and embedded firmware from concept to production, guiding cross‑functional teams globally.

Senior hands-on hardware and firmware expertise are required to lead complex product development and ensure quality and manufacturability. The role emphasizes technical leadership, architecture decisions, and close collaboration with firmware,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 7+ years in electrical engineering supporting industrial products with embedded systems.
• Proven experience in microcomputer hardware, firmware, and PCB design.
• Proficiency with firmware development for microcontrollers and embedded systems.
• Strong debugging skills for embedded hardware and firmware.

Responsibilities

• Develop microcomputer-based embedded systems from concept to production launch.
• Design analog, digital, mixed-signal and power-electronic circuits for MCUs and interfaces.
• Develop and maintain embedded firmware for subsystems.
• Make architecture decisions affecting performance, reliability, and maintainability.
• Lead product planning, design reviews, risk assessments, and tech roadmaps.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure successful integration and releases.
• Create and maintain engineering docs including specs, BOMs, and test procedures.
• Plan hardware verification: functional, environmental, regulatory, reliability, tests.
• Lead root-cause investigations for critical issues and drive resolutions.

Skills

Embedded systems

Firmware development

Microcontroller design

Schematic capture

PCB design

Electrical engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

Altium Designer

PCB layout

Oscilloscopes

Job description

Senior Electrical Engineer

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Work Schedule: Hybrid - 4 days onsite, 1 day remote

Employment Type: Full-time

Travel: Up to 10% domestic and international travel

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Electrical Engineer to design, document, test, and support advanced electrical and electronic systems. This role will lead the development of power components, printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs), and embedded firmware from proof of concept through product launch and ongoing production support.

The ideal candidate combines strong hands-on embedded hardware and firmware expertise with the technical leadership needed to guide complex product-development efforts across global, cross-functional teams.

Please note: This position is based in Columbus, Ohio. Candidates must currently reside in or near the Columbus area and be able to work onsite four days per week. This role is not available for C2C, third-party representation, or visa sponsorship.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop microcomputer-based embedded systems from proof of concept through production launch, emphasizing quality, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Design analog, digital, mixed-signal, and power-electronic circuits, including microcontroller-based systems, communication interfaces, signal conditioning, and monitoring circuitry.
• Develop and maintain embedded firmware for microcontrollers and electronic subsystems.
• Make architecture-level decisions that affect product performance, reliability, manufacturability, cybersecurity, maintainability, and long-term product strategy.
• Provide technical leadership during product planning, design reviews, risk assessments, and technology roadmap development.
• Collaborate with firmware, systems, mechanical, manufacturing, quality, service, and supply‑chain teams to support successful product integration and release.
• Create and maintain engineering documentation, including requirements, design specifications, interface definitions, test procedures, verification reports, BOMs, and engineering change documentation.
• Plan and execute hardware verification activities, including functional, environmental, regulatory‑compliance, reliability, and automated testing.
• Lead root‑cause investigations and cross‑functional technical resolutions for critical customer, field, and production issues.
• Partner with production teams on line setup, assembly support, end‑of‑line testing, and manufacturing‑process improvements.
• Drive continuous‑improvement initiatives that reduce product cost, simplify manufacturing, and enhance system performance.
• Coordinate with Supply Chain to evaluate vendor manufacturing capabilities and identify or qualify alternate components.
• Support the design, production, and validation teams in developing automated test fixtures as needed.
• Travel up to 10% for field troubleshooting, data collection, customer support, and site surveys in the United States and internationally.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
• 7+ years of electrical engineering experience supporting industrial products, with a strong background in embedded systems electronics design.
• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering is a plus.
• Demonstrated experience designing microcomputer hardware and peripherals, including schematic capture and bill of materials creation.
• Proficiency developing and implementing firmware for microcontrollers and embedded systems.
• Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills across both embedded hardware and firmware.
• Advanced proficiency using development and diagnostic tools, including oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, and debuggers.
• Experience with electronic hardware design tools; Altium Designer experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience with PCB layout design.
• Excellent analytical and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to work independently and collaboratively across cross‑functional teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with high-speed data routing and electromagnetic‑interference mitigation techniques in PCB design.
• Experience designing high‑power electronics and PCBs, including constant‑current AC systems.
• Familiarity with advanced electronics and EMC testing using network analyzers, ESD simulators, RF test equipment, and related tools.
• Knowledge of power‑line communication protocols.
• Experience with communication interfaces such as UART, I2C, SPI, CAN, Ethernet, HDMI, and USB.
• Experience working with STMicroelectronics microcontrollers.

Work Authorization and Location Requirements

• Candidates must currently reside in or near Columbus, Ohio.
• Candidates must be able to work a hybrid schedule of four onsite days and one remote day per week.
• This position is not open to C2C arrangements, third‑party agencies, or visa sponsorship.

EEO Notice

Vaco by Highspring is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race (including but not limited to traits historically associated with race such as hair texture and hair style), color, sex (includes pregnancy or related conditions), religion or creed, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, status as a veteran, union membership, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, political affiliation, or any other protected characteristics as required by federal, state or local law.

Vaco by Highspring and its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries are committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Vaco by Highspring and its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [e-mail].

Vaco by Highspring also wants all applicants to know their rights that workplace discrimination is illegal.