Principial Electronic Engineer

Teledyne API; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Teledyne API in San Diego, CA seeks a Principal Electronics Engineer to lead architecture, design, verification, and production release of next‑generation electronic systems for precision gas and air quality instruments. The role blends analog and digital design with system‑level thinking and hands‑on debugging.

You will define technical direction, mentor engineers, and collaborate across electrical, mechanical, software, systems, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and product management to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive hands‑on electronics engineering experience, preferably in R&D or instrumentation.
• Ability to define, design, verify, and release complex electronic systems from concept to production.
• Strong analog and mixed‑signal design, including low‑noise conditioning and ADC/DAC interfaces.
• Strong digital/embedded hardware design with microcontrollers, processors, memory, and interfaces.
• Experience with schematic capture, PCB layout, component selection, and DFX principles.
• Proficiency with industry EDA tools (Altium preferred; others listed).
• Hands‑on lab experience debugging complex circuit and system‑level issues.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, design, development, test, and qualification of advanced electronic systems.
• Design and optimize analog, digital, mixed‑signal, power, sensor‑interface, and embedded control circuitry.
• Translate requirements into robust hardware architectures, specs, and production‑ready docs.
• Lead schematic design, component selection, PCB layout, and design‑for‑manufacturing/test practices.
• Integrate microcontrollers, processors, FPGAs, ADCs/DACs, sensors, interfaces, and power supplies.
• Perform hands‑on bring‑up, debugging, verification, and root‑cause analysis with lab equipment.
• Collaborate with software/firmware teams to define interfaces and resolve hardware/software issues.
• Lead design reviews, risk assessments, and continuous improvement across the product lifecycle.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers and technicians.

Skills

Analog & mixed-signal design

Digital & embedded hardware

Schematic capture & PCB layout

System-level thinking

Leadership & mentoring

DFX / design-for-manufacturing/test

Hardware/software integration

Troubleshooting & debugging

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering

Tools

Altium Designer

OrCAD

Cadence

Mentor Graphics

Job description

Teledyne API, located in San Diego, California, is a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-precision environmental and industrial gas monitoring instrumentation. Our products are used worldwide by regulatory agencies, industrial customers, and research organizations to measure air quality, support environmental compliance, and solve demanding analytical measurement challenges. As an R&D-driven organization, we combine scientific insight, electronics design, embedded systems, and practical engineering execution to deliver reliable, field-ready instrumentation.

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly experienced and hands-on Principal Electronics Engineer to join our Research & Development team. This role will serve as a senior technical authority for the architecture, design, development, verification, and production release of next-generation electronic systems used in precision gas and air quality monitoring instruments. The ideal candidate will combine deep analog and digital design expertise with strong system-level thinking, practical laboratory troubleshooting skills, and the ability to lead complex product development efforts from concept through production.

This position requires an engineer who can operate with a high degree of autonomy, define technical direction, mentor other engineers, and collaborate effectively across electrical, mechanical, software, systems, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and product management teams. The successful candidate will be comfortable moving between high-level system architecture, detailed circuit design, PCB layout implementation, hands-on debug, documentation, and cross-functional technical leadership.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, design, development, test, and qualification of advanced electronic systems for analytical instrumentation and environmental monitoring products.
• Design and optimize analog, digital, mixed-signal, power, sensor-interface, and embedded control circuitry with emphasis on precision, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, and long-term product support.
• Translate customer, regulatory, product, and scientific measurement requirements into robust hardware architectures, circuit designs, technical specifications, verification plans, and production-ready documentation.
• Lead schematic design, component selection, PCB layout implementation, design-for-manufacturing, design-for-test, and design-for-service activities using Altium Designer or similar tools.
• Integrate microcontrollers, processors, FPGAs, ADCs, DACs, sensors, communication interfaces, power supplies, and other electronic subsystems into cohesive instrument-level solutions.
• Perform hands-on board-level and system-level bring-up, troubleshooting, verification, and root-cause analysis using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers, multimeters, data acquisition tools, and other laboratory equipment.
• Partner with software and firmware teams to define interfaces, support embedded control development, verify system behavior, and resolve hardware/software integration issues.
• Lead design reviews, technical risk assessments, failure investigations, corrective actions, and continuous improvement initiatives across the full product lifecycle.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers and technicians, helping establish best practices, design standards, documentation quality, and strong engineering discipline.
• Collaborate with manufacturing, quality, procurement, suppliers, contract manufacturers, and service teams to ensure designs are producible, testable, reliable, cost-effective, and supportable in the field.
• Manage multiple technical priorities in a dynamic R&D environment while communicating status, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Other duties may be assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This job has no supervisory responsibilities but may provide technical leadership to lower-level Engineers including carrying out lead responsibilities in accordance with applicable regulations and laws and the organization’s policies and procedures. This includes, but is not limited to training employees, planning, assigning, directing work and resolving technically related work problems.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline; advanced degree preferred.
• Typically, 15+ years of progressive, hands‑on electronics engineering experience, preferably in R&D, scientific instrumentation, industrial instrumentation, precision measurement, or similarly complex hardware product environments.
• Demonstrated ability to define, design, verify, and release complex electronic systems from concept through production.
• Strong analog and mixed‑signal circuit design experience, including low‑noise signal conditioning, filtering, precision measurement, ADC/DAC interfaces, sensor interfaces, and error budget considerations.
• Strong digital and embedded hardware design experience, including microcontrollers, processors, memory, communication interfaces, programmable logic, and board‑level integration.
• Experience with schematic capture, PCB layout, component selection, design reviews, and design‑for‑manufacturing/test/service principles.
• Proficiency with Altium Designer (preferred), OrCAD, Cadence, Mentor Graphics, or similar EDA tools.
• Hands‑on laboratory experience debugging complex circuit and system‑level issues using standard electronics test equipment.
• Strong understanding of hardware/software integration, embedded controls, system interfaces, and product‑level verification.
• Excellent analytical, troubleshooting, communication, documentation, and cross‑functional leadership skills.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple concurrent priorities, and make sound technical decisions in areas where limited precedent may exist.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing electronics for gas analyzers, optical measurement systems, environmental monitoring instruments, industrial controls, or other precision analytical equipment.
• Familiarity with communication protocols such as Ethernet, USB, RS‑485, CAN, Modbus, or similar industrial and embedded interfaces.
• Experience with embedded software, scripting, or test automation using C, C++, Python, Linux, or similar tools.
• Experience with regulatory, safety, EMC/EMI, environmental, reliability, and qualification testing for electronic products.
• Knowledge of product lifecycle processes, engineering change control, BOM management, PLM systems, supplier engagement, and production transfer.
• Demonstrated history of mentoring engineers, establishing design standards, improving engineering processes, and contributing to technology roadmaps.
• Adapts to changes in the work environment; Able to deal with frequent changes, delays, or unexpected events.
• Ability to Travel domestically approximately 15%.

Work Environment and Physical Requirements

• Work is performed in an office, R&D laboratory, and manufacturing or production support environment.
• Hands‑on work with prototype hardware, test equipment, production units, and engineering builds is expected.
• Domestic travel required to support Teledyne branch in Denver Colorado, approximately 15%
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds as needed for laboratory or product support activities.