Founding Hardware Engineer — From Prototype to Production

Clera; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Clera in San Francisco, CA seeks a hands-on hardware engineer to own the hardware journey from concept to scalable production. You will lead board design, manufacturing readiness, and quality assurance to deliver a reliable device.

You\'ll collaborate closely with the founding team to move prototypes into production, optimize power delivery and RF performance, and manage supplier and assembly processes for a consumer electronic product.

Qualifications

• Shipped PCBs in a real product, preferably wearables, IoT or consumer electronics.
• Experience taking a device from prototype to production or strong early-career fundamentals with AI tools.
• Hands-on PCB layout experience focusing on power, RF, size, reliability, and cost.
• Familiar with manufacturing requirements, test design, supplier management, and assembly processes.
• Ability to anticipate manufacturing and scaling challenges; domain expertise not required.

Responsibilities

• Iterate on PCB revisions optimizing layout, power delivery, RF performance, size, reliability, and cost.
• Move hardware from prototype to production addressing manufacturability, test strategy, supplier selection, and assembly logistics.
• Identify and communicate risks early to prevent costly mistakes.
• Own hardware quality and standards applied to every unit shipped.
• Collaborate with the founding team to build and ship the product.

Skills

PCB design

Production ramp

RF optimization

Power integrity

Cost optimization

DFM/Testing

Tools

Altium Designer

Job description

Clera in San Francisco, CA seeks a hands-on hardware engineer to own the hardware journey from concept to scalable production. You will lead board design, manufacturing readiness, and quality assurance to deliver a reliable device.

You\'ll collaborate closely with the founding team to move prototypes into production, optimize power delivery and RF performance, and manage supplier and assembly processes for a consumer electronic product.