Hardware Engineer

Astemo, Ltd.; Harrodsburg (KY); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Astemo, Ltd. is seeking a Hardware Engineer to support the development of transfer case, suspension, and BMS ECUs through all lifecycle phases. The role emphasizes electrical design concepts, collaboration with cross-functional teams, and vendor interactions to optimize costs.

Ideal candidates have 2 years in automotive ECU design, familiarity with CAN/SPI/SENT, and strong English communication. Hybrid work with some travel may be required; BS EE preferred.

Qualifications

• Preferred BS Electrical Engineering or equivalent
• 2 years of automotive ECU design experience
• Experience with driveline control or BMS is a plus

Responsibilities

• Support electrical design by creating concepts with clean sheet or modified designs.
• Collaborate with mechanical, system, production, and software teams for complete proposals.
• Work with suppliers to evaluate solutions and cost implications for optimization.
• Support hardware design from concept to production ensuring automotive quality standards.
• Provide technical representation to customers and internal groups on status and proposals.
• Communicate hardware status, risks, and issues promptly to leadership and customers.
• Assist design reviews and drive action-item resolution.
• Define and manage hardware requirements with traceability from specs to implementation.
• Collaborate with manufacturing to ensure production-readiness and DFMs.
• Test designs using lab equipment and generate informative data reports.

Skills

Electrical design

12V automotive

CAN/SPI/SENT

English fluency

Thermal/Power analysis

Hardware integration

DFMEA familiarity

Education

BS Electrical Engineering

Related 4-year technical degree

Tools

Oscilloscope

Lab equipment

ASPICE/HWE knowledge

Job description

General Responsibilities:

The Hardware Engineer is responsible for supporting development of a transfer case, suspension, or BMS electronic control units (ECUs) through all phases of the automotive product lifecycle. This role will primarily be responsible for supporting the response to new business quotations and advanced development for transfer case, suspension, or BMS control units. The ideal candidate brings strong problem solving skills, strong understanding of electrical engineering concepts, interest and enthusiasm for hardware electronics design, and a willingness to learn.

Job Responsibilities:

• Support electrical design by working with a more senior engineer to create an electrical concept with clean sheet design or modifying an existing design to suit new requirements.
• Collaborate with the mechanical engineering team, system engineering team, production team, and software team to create a complete design proposal.
• Work with electrical component suppliers to understand possible solutions for clean sheet design or modifications to existing or advanced development designs. This includes understanding directional cost to achieve a cost optimized solution
• Support hardware design and development of electronic control units from concept through production, ensuring compliance with automotive quality and reliability standards.
• With the support of a supervising engineer, provide technical representation for the electrical hardware team to the customer or internal groups to present design status, technical proposals, and issue resolutions.
• Communicate hardware status, risks, and issues to both internal leadership, program management, and the customer in a timely and transparent manner.
• Support design reviews (e.g., schematic reviews, DFMEA, design verification) and drive resolution of action items.
• Contribute to the definition and management of hardware requirements, ensuring traceability from customer specifications through implementation.
• Collaborate with manufacturing teams to ensure hardware designs are production-ready, supporting DFM reviews, build support, and the smooth transition from prototype through series production.
• Test electrical designs using common lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, power supplies, arbitrary loads, etc. to create a test report with meaningful data for review by the larger team.

Desired Knowledge / Skills

• Electrical design knowledge in the context of 12V automotive systems, including power distribution, signal conditioning, protection circuitry, and grounding strategies.
• Familiarity with power electronics topologies including H-bridge motor drivers, high-side and low-side drive circuits, BLDC motor control, buck/boost switching regulators, and linear voltage regulation.
• Basic understanding of ADC signal chains, including input filtering, reference voltage considerations, and signal scaling for sensor measurement applications.
• Familiarity with digital communication interfaces such as CAN, SPI, and SENT.
• Experience collaborating with simulation teams on power dissipation analysis, thermal modeling, and FEA to validate hardware designs meet thermal and reliability requirements.
• Familiarity with common laboratory equipment and measuring electronic circuits to provide meaningful data.
• Familiarity with driveline control systems (transfer case, suspension) and an understanding of how these subsystems integrate and function within the broader vehicle architecture.
• Familiarity with battery management systems (BMS) and an understanding of how these subsystems integrate and function within the broader vehicle architecture.
• Familiarity with ASPICE 4.0 hardware engineering (HWE) design concepts and process requirements.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks, priorities, and deliverables across concurrent projects.
• Fluent in English, both written and verbal communication.

Education Requirements:

• (Preferred) BS Electrical Engineering
• Related 4-year technical degree with equivalent industry experience

Experience Requirements:

• 2 years of experience in automotive ECU design and development environment
• (Preferred) 1+ years of experience in driveline control or suspension control or BMS design

Working Conditions:

Physical Demands:

Required to sit or stand for long periods in an industrial lab environment. The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Dexterity of hands, fingers, and wrists to operate a computer keyboard, mouse, and other computer components.

Travel:

Domestic and international may be required as needed up to 10%. The candidate will occasionally need to travel to multiple global locations to support project development.

Work Environment:

Some amount of working remotely is allowed but the candidate must be physically present in the office/lab when duties dictate the need.