Senior Electrical Engineer - DCE

Ford; Palo Alto (CA); Hybrid; USD 139,000 - 233,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Parental leave and family support

Vehicle discount program for employees

Job summary

Ford is seeking an EE Senior Hardware Engineer in Palo Alto, CA to architect, design, and bring up electrical boards for our advanced EV platforms. You will collaborate with design, suppliers, and manufacturing to deliver customer-facing hardware with robust reliability.

The role emphasizes PCB schematic/layout, high-speed signaling, DC/DC converters, and cross-functional system integration. A strong candidate will have hands-on testing and production readiness experience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering is required.
• 5+ years of experience with board design and hardware development.
• Experience with Altium eCAD tools and working with contract manufacturers/OEMs.
• Knowledge of DC/DC converters, data buses (I2C, SPI), and analog/digital circuit design.

Responsibilities

• Design schematic and layout of electrical boards and guide external partners on designs.
• Bring up and validate designs at both in-house and partner sites; test for reliability.
• Create rapid prototypes using off-the-shelf parts to support fast iteration.
• Integrate electrical designs with vehicle systems across teams.
• Influence electrical architecture decisions and execution.

Skills

Board design

Altium eCAD

C/C++

Python scripting

Systems/HW architectures

Digital/analog circuitry

Education

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

Job description

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

Product Creation and Industrialization (PC&I) brings together Ford’s vehicle, electric, digital and design teams with our global manufacturing system. Working as one end-to-end organization, we turn ideas into high-quality vehicles, software and experiences across gas, hybrid and electric, designed around what customers need.

In this position...
Advanced EV’s Design Concept Engineering team is looking for an EE Senior Hardware Engineer to join our fast-paced development, working on cutting-edge features with complex hardware, sensors and software. You would be responsible for architecting, implementing and designing boards for our upcoming product platform, including both on-vehicle and off-vehicle components. This work focuses on product-differentiating, customer-facing designs and circuits for new products features and development. A good candidate would have a strong background in printed circuit board design, schematics and layout, and a portfolio of shipping products in which they crafted the specifications, did schematic design, layout, bring up, and testing for. They would have knowledge of DC-to-DC converters, high speed digital signaling, common data buses (I2C, SPI…) and analog circuit design. Experience with working with oversea CMs and production processes are preferred.

What you’ll do…

• Electrical Design – This would include schematic and layout of key electrical boards as well as providing guidance to JDM/OEMs on executing designs.
• Bring Up and validation – Bring up designs done in-house and at JDM/OEM. Test designs for reliability and validity. Implement changes to address issues found.
• Rapid Prototyping – Create quick, simple designs to execute design vision of the studio team using off the shelf parts. Understand tradeoffs being made for velocity and mitigate risks that impact team progress.
• System Integration – Work with other engineering teams to integrate electrical designs into our vehicles.
• Influence design decisions - Help define electrical architecture and execution.

You’ll have...

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering
• 5+ years of experience with board design
• Experience working with Altium eCAD tools
• Experience working with contract manufacturers and OEMs
• Knowledge of DC/DC converters, transmission lines, common Data buses, analog circuits, board design and layout best practices

Even better, you may have…

• 5+ years of experience with Systems/HW architectures experience
• Python scripting experience
• C/C++ coding experience
• Design experience using microprocessors and digital logic
• Knowledge in display, audio and camera technologies
• Experience in motors and encoders
• Experience using SI tools such as hyperlink
• Experience in ethernet networking
• Experience in automotive design (AECxxx, CAN, LIN, T1S)
• Experience with validation testing and production design processes

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

This position is a salary grade 8 and ranges from $138,800-$232,700.
Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

For more information on salary and benefits, click here: https://fordcareers.co/GSR

Visa sponsorship is available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

This position is hybrid with a requirement to be onsite four or more days per week.