Lidar Hardware Sustaining Engineer — Production & NPI Leader

Ouster Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity opportunity

Benefits package

Job summary

Ouster Inc. is hiring a Senior Electrical Sustaining Engineer to own production hardware designs for shipping LiDAR sensors and lead ECO/MCO changes.

You’ll monitor component lifecycles, qualify alternates with suppliers, and ensure libraries and compliance data are up to date. You will partner with procurement, supply chain, and contract manufacturers to protect yield, reduce costs, and maintain continuous supply while delivering design-for-reliability improvements for next-generation NPI

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
• 6+ years in sustaining, component, or electrical design engineering in a volume manufacturing environment.
• Hands-on experience modifying production designs: schematic capture and PCB layout in Altium (or equivalent), circuit simulation (SPICE), and analog/power circuit design.
• Component qualification experience, including reliability testing (thermal cycling, HALT, derating analysis) and standards such as AEC-Q100/Q200.
• Failure analysis skills: fault isolation to component level, and working with FA labs on X-ray, cross-sectioning, and curve tracing.
• Strong bench skills with oscilloscopes, DMMs, power analyzers, and data acquisition systems.
• Experience running ECOs and BOM changes in a PLM system (Arena or similar).
• Python or similar scripting for test automation and data analysis.
• Clear written communication, including validation reports and change documentation.

Responsibilities

• Take end-to-end technical ownership of electrical designs for shipping lidar sensors, including mixed-signal, power, and laser driver circuitry.
• Make schematic and layout changes for sustaining revisions, then plan and run the design verification needed to release them.
• Drive, review, and approve Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and Material Change Orders (MCOs, BOM-only changes) in Fusion
• Monitor component lifecycles and act on End-of-Life (EOL) notices and Product Change Notifications (PCNs) before they become line-down events.
• Evaluate replacement parts for fit, pinout, and electrical performance, and qualify alternates with suppliers and distributors.
• Keep component libraries accurate, including schematic symbols, footprints, and compliance data (RoHS, REACH, conflict minerals).
• Act as the subject matter expert for component-level troubleshooting across engineering, quality, test, and tier-1 suppliers.
• Partner with procurement, supply chain, and our contract manufacturer to protect yield, reduce cost, and keep supply continuous.
• Serve as the technical point of contact to debug complex failure through root-cause analysis.
• Bridge the gap between field quality and initial design by codifying lessons learned from field bugs into actionable design-for-reliability guidelines for next-generation NPI architectures.

Skills

End-to-end ownership

Sustaining electrical design

Schematic & PCB layout

Altium

SPICE

PLM Arena

Python scripting

Failure analysis

Oscilloscopes & DMMs

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering or equivalent

Tools

Altium

SPICE

Arena (PLM)

Job description

Ouster Inc. is hiring a Senior Electrical Sustaining Engineer to own production hardware designs for shipping LiDAR sensors and lead ECO/MCO changes.

You’ll monitor component lifecycles, qualify alternates with suppliers, and ensure libraries and compliance data are up to date. You will partner with procurement, supply chain, and contract manufacturers to protect yield, reduce costs, and maintain continuous supply while delivering design-for-reliability improvements for next-generation NPI