Senior Electrical Engineer – Hardware

Kopin Corporation; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Kopin Corporation is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer – Hardware to lead design, integration, and validation of custom electronics for microdisplay solutions. You will own complex PCB-level hardware from concept through prototype validation and production transition, collaborating across Systems, Embedded Software, FPGA, Optics, and Manufacturing teams.

The role requires strong hands-on lab skills, Altium proficiency, and experience with power, high-speed digital, and mixed-signal designs,

Qualifications

• The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 8–12 years of PCB-level hardware development experience for embedded systems.
• Experience with power, high-speed digital, and mixed-signal designs.

Responsibilities

• Generate schematics, BoMs, design reports, and test procedures.
• Lead design reviews and risk assessments with cross-functional teams.
• Build and characterize prototypes and evaluation setups.
• Lead board bring-up, power sequencing, signal integrity, and EMI/EMC testing.
• Define electrical interfaces and document pinouts, timing, and budgets.
• Provide direction for PCB layout, stack-up, and high-speed routing.

Skills

PCB-level hardware design

Power supply design

High-speed digital design

Embedded hardware

Lab debug

Oscilloscopes & test equipment

Altium Designer

Schematic/layout best practices

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Altium Designer

Oscilloscope

Logic analyzers

Soldering / rework tools

Job description

POSITION: Senior Electrical Engineer – Hardware
REPORTING TO: Senior Director, Advanced Technology
LOCATION: Dallas, TX. (Allen / Plano area)

GENERAL FUNCTION:

The Senior Electrical Engineer – (Hardware) leads the design, integration, and validation of custom electronics used in Kopin’s microdisplay-based solutions. This includes microdisplay driver boards, interface modules, imaging electronics, sensor/camera interface boards, and system-level hardware for weapon sights, HMDs, medical viewers, FPV goggles, and related embedded platforms.

The role owns complex PCB-level designs from concept through prototype validation and production transition, leads hardware trade studies, mentors less experienced engineers, and serves as a technical lead with Systems, Embedded Software, FPGA, Optics, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing, and suppliers. Strong embedded hardware, power, high-speed digital, mixed-signal, SWaP-optimized design, and hands-on lab debug experience are required.

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Generate and maintain schematics, BoMs, design reports, ICDs, ECOs, test procedures, verification records, and revision-controlled hardware artifacts.
• Lead design reviews, peer reviews, risk reviews, and trade studies; identify technical risks early and drive closure through analysis, prototyping, simulation, or test.
• Build and characterize prototypes, development boards, evaluation setups, and test fixtures for concept evaluation, verification, and troubleshooting.
• Lead board bring-up, integration, and debug activities, including:
  • Power-on sequencing, functional validation, and margin evaluation
  • Signal integrity, timing, interface reliability, and noise investigations
  • Integration with firmware, FPGA logic, optics modules, microdisplays, sensors, and host systems
  • Environmental, thermal, vibration, EMI/EMC, and ruggedization testing
• Define and document electrical interfaces to optics, mechanical, firmware, FPGA, and system teams, including pinouts, timing, power budgets, connector/harness requirements, EMI/ESD concerns, and interface constraints.
• Provide technical direction for PCB layout in Altium, including stack-up definition, controlled-impedance routing, high-speed placement, grounding, shielding, thermal management, manufacturability, testability, and rigid-flex/flex considerations where applicable.
• Mentors junior and mid-level electrical engineers, review designs, and help establish practical design guidelines, reusable circuits, and hardware best practices.
• Support DFM/DFT reviews, NPI, supplier and contract manufacturer interactions, failure analysis, sustaining engineering, and transition from prototype into production.
• Contribute technical inputs to estimates, schedules, proposals, customer discussions, and program planning involving hardware scope, risk, or architecture.

MINIMUM JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• Kopin is a defense contractor and is subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). You must be a US Citizen or Permanent Resident (green card holder) to be considered for this position.
• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 8 to 12 years of PCB-level hardware development experience for embedded systems, including ownership of complex designs from concept through prototype validation and production release.
• Proficiency with Altium Designer or comparable schematic/layout tools, with the ability to create, review, and release high-quality design packages.
• Demonstrated experience with:
  • Power supply design, sequencing, protection, power budgeting, grounding, and noise control
  • High-speed digital interfaces, mixed-signal board design, and embedded interface validation
  • FPGA/MCU/SoC-based board implementation, bring-up, and hardware/software integration
  • Component selection, trade studies, margin analysis, and lifecycle/availability risk management
• Strong hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power/protocol analyzers, JTAG/debug tools, soldering/rework equipment, and related bench instrumentation.
• Ability to lead designs independently from requirements definition through architecture, schematic design, layout guidance, bring-up, integration, verification, and production transition.
• Experience leading or participating in design reviews, peer reviews, root-cause investigations, and cross-functional integration.
• Working knowledge of DFM/DFT, PCB fabrication/assembly, test-point strategy, BoM control, ECO/ECN processes, and supplier or contract manufacturer interactions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations to engineering leadership and cross-functional teams.

PREFERRED JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• Experience with near-eye displays, AR/VR devices, imaging sensors, weapon sights, HUD/HMD electronics, microdisplay drivers, or compact electro-optical systems.
• Experience with FPGA-centric designs, high-speed data paths, display pipelines, image/video interfaces, timing generation, memory, or SERDES architectures.
• Experience with SI/PI tools, SPICE or behavioral modeling, timing analysis, or pre/post-layout validation.
• Experience with EMC/EMI compliance, ESD protection, rugged hardware design, environmental qualification, or MIL-STD-style testing.
• Flex or rigid-flex design experience, including stack-up definition, impedance control, bend-radius constraints, miniature connectors, and compact mechanical integration.
• Embedded engineering familiarity, including MCU/SoC architectures, boot and power-control sequencing, firmware integration, peripheral configuration, and hardware abstraction boundaries.
• Working knowledge of embedded protocols and display/imaging interfaces, including SPI, I2C, UART, LVDS, MIPI-DSI/CSI, HDMI/DisplayPort, USB, GPIO, and peripheral buses.
• Familiarity with IPC standards, IPC-WHMA-A-620, IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, and basic MIL-STD environmental requirements.
• Experience mentoring junior engineers, developing reusable design approaches, or improving hardware development processes.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Able to rotate from sitting to standing, lift 20 pounds, and gown according to clean room protocol when required.

Kopin Corporation is an Equal Employment Opportunity and affirmative action employer and as such all qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class. If an applicant needs a reasonable accommodation due to a disability with the application process, there is additional information on our website at www.kopin.com/about/careers .