Senior Electrical Engineer – Hardware

Kopin Corporation; Dallas, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Kopin Corporation is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer – Hardware in the Dallas area to lead hardware design for microdisplay-based solutions. You will own PCB-level designs, drive bring-up, verify interfaces with firmware and optics, and mentor junior engineers across cross-functional teams.

The role emphasizes hands-on lab work, power & high-speed design, and SWaP-optimized hardware, with production transition responsibilities and design reviews.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 8 to 12 years of PCB-level hardware development experience for embedded systems.
• Proficiency with Altium Designer or comparable schematic/layout tools.
• Demonstrated experience with power supply design, high-speed interfaces, and mixed-signal boards.
• Strong lab, debugging, and measurement skills.

Responsibilities

• Generate schematics, BoMs, design reports, ICDs, ECOs, and hardware artifacts.
• Lead design reviews, risk reviews, and trade studies; drive closure via analysis or test.
• Build and characterize prototypes, development boards, and test fixtures.
• Lead board bring-up, integration, and debug including SI/EMI testing.
• Define electrical interfaces to optics, firmware, FPGA, and systems teams.
• Provide direction for PCB layout, stack-up, impedance, and manufacturability.

Skills

Power supply design

High-speed digital

Embedded hardware

Signal integrity

Lab debug & bench work

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium Designer

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

JTAG/debug tools

SPICE/EM simulations

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 ... . 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 .