Principal Electrical Engineer (Design Lead)

Midjourney; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Midjourney is seeking an in-house electrical lead to own the electrical architecture for the Midjourney Medical scanner and guide all board‑level design. You will manage end‑to‑end hardware development, write embedded firmware, audit HDL, and define interfaces with software and mechanical teams.

This role requires rigorous design controls for a regulated medical program and hands‑on bring‑up with suppliers.

Qualifications

• Deep experience designing complex boards from blank page to stable revision.
• Strong schematic and layout skills with signal integrity, power integrity, grounding and EMI/EMC instincts.
• Solid embedded firmware background in C/C++ (and Python tooling) for peripherals, DMA, interrupts and RT constraints.
• Practical HDL experience (VHDL/Verilog/SystemVerilog) for data acquisition and timing.
• Track record of bring‑up and debug on real hardware with scopes and logic analyzers.
• Technical leadership: clear trade‑offs, strong documentation, and setting electrical expectations.

Responsibilities

• Act as the in-house electrical lead for the Midjourney Medical scanner architecture and board-level direction.
• Own complex board design end-to-end: architecture, schematic capture, layout, DFM/DFT, vendor management, bring-up and revision control.
• Write firmware for embedded targets: drivers, real-time control loops, safety logic, bootloaders, and field updates.
• Audit and update HDL/FPGA code for high-throughput data acquisition and preprocessing of ultrasound and sensor data streams.
• Define electrical interfaces and data contracts with software, recon/ML and mechanical teams: timing budgets, clocking, SI, connectors, failure modes.
• Establish EE rigor: design reviews, checklists, bring-up procedures, test fixtures, and documentation for a regulated medical device program.
• Mentor and grow the electrical function; select and manage external design partners.

Skills

Electrical design

Board design end-to-end

Firmware development

HDL/FPGA

Electrical interfaces

Design reviews

Technical leadership

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Job description

What you'll do

1. Act as the in-house electrical lead for Midjourney Medical: own the electrical architecture of the scanner and the technical direction for all board-level design.

2. Own complex board design end-to-end: architecture, schematic capture, layout (high-speed digital, analog/mixed-signal, power), DFM/DFT, fabrication and assembly vendor management, bring-up, and revision control.

3. Write firmware for embedded targets (MCU/SoC): drivers, real-time control loops, safety-relevant logic, bootloaders, and field update paths.

4. Audit and update HDL (FPGA) code for high-throughput data acquisition, timing/synchronization, triggering, and pre-processing of ultrasound and sensor data streams.

5. Define electrical interfaces and data contracts with software, recon/ML and mechanical teams: timing budgets, clocking/sync, signal integrity, connectors/harnessing, and failure modes.

6. Establish electrical engineering rigor: design reviews, schematic/layout review checklists, bring-up procedures, test fixtures, and documentation suitable for a regulated medical device program (DHF, traceability, change control).

7. Mentor and grow the electrical function; select and manage external design partners where leverage is high.

What we're looking for

• Deep experience designing complex boards from blank page to stable revision, including high‑speed digital and analog/mixed‑signal domains.

• Strong schematic and layout skills (Altium/KiCad or equivalent) with real signal integrity, power integrity, grounding, and EMI/EMC instincts.

• Solid embedded firmware background in C/C++ (and Python for tooling): peripherals, DMA, interrupts, real‑time constraints, and debugging on hardware.

• Practical HDL experience (VHDL/Verilog/SystemVerilog) for data acquisition, timing, and streaming interfaces.

• Track record of owning bring‑up and debug on real hardware: scopes, logic analyzers, and disciplined root‑cause analysis.

• Technical leadership: clear trade‑offs, strong written documentation, and the ability to set the electrical bar for a lean, fast‑moving team.

Useful experience

• Ultrasound, imaging, instrumentation, or other high‑channel‑count data acquisition systems (ADC/AFE front ends, transducer interfacing, pulser/receiver design, low‑noise analog).

• FPGA‑to‑host high‑bandwidth data paths (10/25/100G Ethernet, serial transceivers) and deterministic multi‑board synchronization.

• Power electronics and power distribution for complex electromechanical systems: rail architecture, sequencing, isolation, and thermal considerations.

• Safety‑critical or medical device electronics: interlocks, isolation and leakage requirements, IEC 60601‑adjacent design practice, and design controls.

• Manufacturing and serviceability thinking: DFM/DFT, ICT/functional test fixtures, calibration flows, yield and field‑failure analysis.

• Building an electrical function from scratch: tooling, libraries, part standardization, ECO process, and vendor ecosystem.

• Familiarity with high‑performance computing systems.