Electrical Systems Engineer - DNA Sequencing Instruments

Planet Pharma; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 96,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Planet Pharma in Menlo Park, CA is seeking a Contractor - Staff Electrical Systems Engineer for a 6-month contract with potential extension or conversion. You will build, bring up, and troubleshoot the electrical system architecture of complex DNA sequencing instruments, spanning system architecture, PCB design, power and signal distribution, cabling, and harnessing.

Collaborating with firmware, software, manufacturing, and quality teams, you will drive interfaces, lead root-cause

Qualifications

• Minimum 7–10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 5–8 years with a Master’s; or 3–7 years with a PhD.
• Hands-on schematic capture and PCB design using Altium/Cadence.
• Experience with USB, CAN, or EtherCAT in electronic architectures.
• Experience with PCB layout, component selection, fabrication, and production release.
• Cable and harness architecture, documentation, prototyping, and sourcing.
• Strong lab and troubleshooting skills with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, DMMs, and power supplies.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Define, document, prototype and validate cables and wire harnesses, including connectors, pinouts, grounding, shielding and test requirements.
• Read and understand mixed-signal boards with embedded processors, high-speed interfaces, FPGAs, and power electronics.
• Collaborate with firmware, software, sequencing integration, consumables, mechanical, optical, fluidics, thermal, manufacturing, quality, service to define interfaces and deliver integrated instrument designs.
• Lead system-level troubleshooting and root-cause investigations across electrical hardware, firmware, software, mechanical and optical systems.
• Own and analyze electrical system performance margins including power integrity, grounding, shielding, noise, ESD, EMI/EMC, timing, and thermal loading.
• Partner with NPI, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and suppliers to document PCBA and cable designs for production, including component selection and DFx considerations.
• Ensure electrical designs comply with regulatory, safety, EMC, and environmental requirements (UL, CE, FCC/EMC, IEC, FDA, ISO).

Skills

Schematic capture

PCB design/layout

Altium

Cadence

Power electronics

Signal integrity

Lab troubleshooting

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Master’s degree (preferred)

PhD (optional)

Tools

Altium

Cadence

PCB design software

Job description

Planet Pharma in Menlo Park, CA is seeking a Contractor - Staff Electrical Systems Engineer for a 6-month contract with potential extension or conversion. You will build, bring up, and troubleshoot the electrical system architecture of complex DNA sequencing instruments, spanning system architecture, PCB design, power and signal distribution, cabling, and harnessing.

Collaborating with firmware, software, manufacturing, and quality teams, you will drive interfaces, lead root-cause