Hardware Engineering Intern

Thinklance LLP; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 34,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Thinklance LLP in San Francisco is seeking a hands-on hardware engineering intern for a 12-week project. You will design, test, and iterate prototypes across electrical and mechanical domains, evaluating components, architectures, and suppliers.

You will work with hardware, software, and manufacturing teams, develop test plans, analyze data, and present findings to the Hardware team at the end of the internship.

Qualifications

• Students pursuing degrees in electrical, computer, mechanical, manufacturing or industrial engineering, or related fields.
• Ability to break ambiguous problems into engineering questions.
• Experience or eagerness to build, test, debug hardware.

Responsibilities

• Own a hardware internship project for 12 weeks aligned with Meter priorities.
• Design, build, and test electrical or mechanical prototypes.
• Evaluate components, architectures, materials, and suppliers.
• Develop test plans and characterize performance, reliability, thermals, acoustics, power.
• Work with networking hardware, PCBAs, mechanical assemblies, test equipment, samples.
• Analyze data to identify trends, risks, opportunities.
• Collaborate with overseas suppliers and manufacturing partners.
• Explore lifecycle opportunities like sustainability and refurbishment.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with hardware, supply chain, ops, software, product, finance.
• Present findings and recommendations to Hardware team at internship end.

Skills

Hardware engineering

Electrical engineering

Mechanical engineering

Prototyping

Data analysis

Education

Electrical Engineering (BSc/BE)

Mechanical Engineering

Industrial Engineering

Tools

CAD

PCB design

Job description

Your Role

Here’s what you will be doing:

• Own a well-scoped hardware engineering project aligned with your interests and Meter’s priorities during a 12-week internship.
• Design, build, and test electrical or mechanical prototypes for future Meter products.
• Evaluate components, technologies, architectures, materials, and suppliers.
• Develop test plans and characterize performance, reliability, thermals, acoustics, power, or other system-level behavior.
• Work directly with networking hardware, PCBAs, mechanical assemblies, test equipment, and manufacturing samples.
• Analyze manufacturing, component, or supply chain data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Collaborate with overseas suppliers and manufacturing partners to understand technical capabilities, constraints, cost, and scalability.
• Explore sustainability, repairability, refurbishment, component reuse, recycling, and other hardware lifecycle opportunities.
• Work cross-functionally with hardware engineering, supply chain, operations, software, product, finance, and other teams.
• Present findings and recommendations to the Hardware team at the end of the internship.

About You

The company is looking for:

• Students pursuing degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, industrial engineering, supply chain, or related technical fields.
• Individuals who enjoy breaking ambiguous technical problems into answerable engineering questions.
• Those with experience or eagerness to build, test, debug, or disassemble hardware.
• Comfort working hands-on with physical systems such as PCBAs, mechanical assemblies, test equipment, prototypes, manufacturing data, or supplier samples.
• Ability to use data to inform engineering decisions rather than relying solely on intuition.
• Willingness to learn unfamiliar topics and ask questions when needed.
• Strong communication skills to clearly present technical findings and actionable recommendations.

Experience with networking hardware, electronics, embedded systems, PCB design, CAD, manufacturing, thermal design, acoustics, data analysis, supply chain, or hardware lifecycle engineering is a plus but not required.

Compensation & Benefits

• Estimated hourly rate of $25-40 per hour.