Principal Electrical Engineer

Thales Defense & Security, Inc.; South Billerica (MA); Hybrid; USD 149,988 - 191,652; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive Salary

Yearly Incentive Plan

Medical insurance for self and family

401(k) up to 7% company contribution

Tuition Reimbursement

Paid wellness, vacation, and holiday

Paid parental leave

9/80 Work Schedule

Hybrid working environment

Job summary

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. in Billerica, MA, seeks a Principal Electrical Engineer to lead the electrical design of helmet-mounted display equipment. You will produce schematics, support prototype builds, maintain BOMs, and drive product development from inception to production.

The ideal candidate has 8+ years in circuit card design, hands-on lab experience, and DoD standards familiarity. This hybrid role offers growth, competitive compensation, and supplier liaison responsibilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or higher degree in Electrical Engineering with emphasis on circuit design.
• 8+ years of experience in detailed circuit card design (board-level schematic design and capture).
• Extensive lab experience with hands-on design optimization, bringing boards up, testing prototype/production designs.
• DoD standards knowledge and experience (MIL-STD, DO-160, etc.).
• Proficiency with schematic capture tools (Altium, Xpedition, OrCAD).
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.

Responsibilities

• Lead digital engineering teams or work independently to define requirements, create schematics, design documentation and test plans.
• Design, simulate, analyze and test analog/digital circuits for helmet-mounted display equipment.
• Create PCB layouts and documentation to manufacture PWAs; support manufacturing transfer.
• Mentor junior engineers and provide technical oversight.
• Verify product performance against predictions and support R&D improvements.

Skills

Digital design

Schematic capture

PCB layout

Prototype testing

Technical leadership

Documentation

Written/verbal communication

Education

BSEE/MSEE in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium Designer

Siemens/XPedition

OrCAD

Job description

Principal Electrical Engineer

Location: Billerica, MA, 01821

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. (TDSI) Headquartered in Clarksburg, MD, is a U.S. company that has been serving domestic and international defense Air, Land and Sea domains for 60+ years. With over 1,000 employees, TDSI and its four subsidiaries support U.S. Joint Services, special operations forces and multi-national partners with a variety of communication, visualization, signal intelligence, electronic warfare, and sensor/sonar capabilities. TDSI's key technologies include tactical handheld radios, expeditionary satellite terminals, helmet-mounted displays, optics and target recognition capability, advanced radars, undersea sensing and missile systems.

Top Benefits

• Competitive Salary
• Yearly Incentive Compensation Plan
• Medical insurance for self and eligible family members
• Generous 401(k) program—up to 7% company contribution and 100% immediate vesting
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Paid wellness, vacation, and holiday leave
• Paid maternity, paternity, and parental leave
• 9/80 Work Schedule (every other Friday off)
• Hybrid working environment

We currently have an opening in our Billerica, MA office for a Principal Electrical Engineer. This position reports to the Electrical Engineering Manager located in Aurora, IL. The Principal Electrical Engineer performs the electrical design of small, lightweight, helmet mounted display equipment. The candidate will work as a member of a design team by providing quality designs using advanced principles of electrical engineering, produce detailed designs using Altium, support prototype builds and verification testing, create and maintain bills of material, and provide supplier support during the procurement of materials. The ideal candidate will be able to lead Project Meetings and coordinate Product Development from product inception to production handoff.

Responsibilities

• Lead small digital engineering teams and/or work independently to define requirements, conceive, document (create schematics, interface control documents, hardware design documents, test plans/reports, etc.), analyze/simulate, build prototypes, oversee PCB layouts, perform verification testing, debug, and optimize digital circuit designs to meet requirements at the circuit, card, and product levels.
• Perform technical trade studies and analyses to select digital architecture and key components.
• Design, simulate, analyze and test a variety of analog and digital circuits and components commonly used in helmet mounted display equipment.
• Create electronic circuit schematics and lead PCB design/layout activities.
• Create documentation to manufacture printed wiring assemblies (PWAs) and transition designs to manufacturing.
• Write technical documents: test procedures, test datasheets, technical memoranda.
• Mentor and provide technical oversight to junior engineers.
• Verify product performance vs. predictions for prototype products and production hardware products.
• Develop detailed design specifications, test plans and test procedures.
• Analyze product failure data and malfunction testing trends, troubleshoot yield issues, and recommend product improvements, including test improvements.
• Participate in continuous improvement and team building activities. Maintain productive working relationships with all team members.
• Generate documentation for programming individual components, loading firmware on circuit card assemblies and loading firmware into fully assembled products.
• Effectively troubleshoot problems (define problem, collect data/facts, and draw conclusions), and implement solutions.
• Identify alternate components and perform qualification testing in order to replace obsolete components.
• Plan, design and manage PWB re-layout activities in order to replace obsolete components.
• Support test yield improvement activities in a manufacturing environment.
• Act as liaison between manufacturing diagnostic technicians and engineers on existing products and during transfer of new products manufacturing.
• Evaluate the effects of modified firmware on existing hardware platforms.
• Support R&D efforts and continuous process improvements.
• Complete assigned tasks in a quality and timely manner with minimal supervision.
• Effectively support and communicate to management status, issues, needs and ideas.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship required. Applicants selected may be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.
• BSEE/MSEE in Electrical Engineering.
• 8+ years of experience in detailed circuit card design (board-level schematic design and capture), analysis and test.
• Extensive lab experience required— including hands-on design optimization, bringing boards up, and testing prototype/production designs.
• Digital design experience should include circuit card assemblies containing: PSoCs, Microprocessors, FPGAs/CPLDs, CODECs, USB drivers/switches and HUBs, RS-232/RS-485 drivers and switches, Low-EMI clocks/distribution (14.4MHz - 48MHz).
• Ability to analyze a design to meet technical requirements.
• Experience with DoD standards and practices (MIL-STD, ASTM, ANSI, DO-160 etc.).
• Proficiency in the use of schematic capture tools, ideally Altium Designer, Siemens/Mentor Xpedition, or OrCAD.
• Experience with Microsoft Office tools, such as, MSExcel, MSWord, Visio and MSProject.
• Strong communication skills both verbal and written.
• Ability to comply with all Company guidelines, policies, procedures and embrace Company Core Values.

The annualized pay range for this role is $149,988-$191,652 USD along with a target incentive compensation plan (ICP) of 5%.
The pay range provided is a good faith estimate representative of the experience level for the role described above.

For specific questions about this job posting, candidates may contact talent acquisition at [e-mail].

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. is committed to non-discrimination as applicable under federal, state and local laws. We are an E-Verify Employer.

If you need an accommodation or assistance in order to apply for a position with Thales Defense & Security, Inc., please call Human Resources at 202-961-1016.