Principal Electrical Engineer — Brain-Interface Systems

Merge Labs; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Merge Labs in San Francisco is seeking a Principal/Staff Electrical Engineer to own the architecture, design, and validation of core electronics systems. You will work across mixed-signal design, power, high-speed digital, and FPGA integration, building reusable instrumentation and automated validation workflows.

You will collaborate with scientists and platform engineers to replace fragile bench setups, define performance criteria, and drive manufacturable designs while mentoring teammates.

Qualifications

• Experience designing complex electronic systems end-to-end.
• Hands-on debugging with oscilloscopes, analyzers, and test benches.
• Proficient in Python and C/C++ for hardware bring-up and automation.
• Experience delivering manufacturable designs and working with vendors/CMs.
• Empathy for scientists and ability to build reusable instrumentation.

Responsibilities

• Architect, design, simulate, lay out, bring up, and verify complex electronics.
• Own PCBAs and system-level electrical architecture, including SI/PI and EMI.
• Develop automated test and characterization infrastructure with Python/C++ tooling.
• Build instrumentation for scientists with repeatable workflows.
• Define performance and acceptance criteria and document procedures.
• Collaborate with Mechanical, ASIC/FPGA, Firmware, Software, and scientists.
• Mentor engineers and establish design review and verification best practices.

Skills

Mixed-signal design

Analog fundamentals

High-speed digital

Python

C/C++

Test automation

Vendor management

Instrument systems

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Spectrum analyzers

Job description

Merge Labs in San Francisco is seeking a Principal/Staff Electrical Engineer to own the architecture, design, and validation of core electronics systems. You will work across mixed-signal design, power, high-speed digital, and FPGA integration, building reusable instrumentation and automated validation workflows.

You will collaborate with scientists and platform engineers to replace fragile bench setups, define performance criteria, and drive manufacturable designs while mentoring teammates.