Staff Electrical Engineer, Design Concept Engineering

Ford; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and prescription drug

Flexible family care & parental leave

Vehicle discount program

Tuition assistance

Employee resource groups

Paid time off for community service

Job summary

Ford Motor Company’s Advanced EV Design Concept Engineering team seeks an EE Staff Hardware Engineer to architect and design boards for the upcoming product platform, including on-vehicle and off-vehicle components. The role emphasizes DC/DC, analog, high-speed signaling, and data buses with leadership across hardware development.

You will lead schematic capture, layout, bring-up, validation, and rapid prototyping, while coordinating with JDMs/OEMs to ensure robust electrical architectures for

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience with board design.
• Experience with contract manufacturers and OEMs.
• Knowledge of DC/DC converters, transmission lines, common data buses, analog circuits, board design and layout best practices.
• Experience in leadership roles.

Responsibilities

• Electrical Design – schematic and layout of key boards and guidance to JDM/OEMs.
• Bring Up and Validation – bring up designs and test for reliability and validity.
• Rapid Prototyping – create quick, off-the-shelf designs to realize design vision.
• System Integration – collaborate with other teams to integrate electrical designs into vehicles.
• Influence design decisions – help define electrical architecture and execution.

Skills

Board design

Electrical design leadership

DC/DC converters

High-speed signaling

Data buses (I2C/SPI)

Analog circuit design

Technical leadership

Education

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium eCAD

Job description

The new Ford Universal EV Platform and Ford Universal EV Production System were born from a team that combines the discipline, expertise and scale of a company with 122 years of experience with the speed, innovation and first-principles thinking of a California-based electric vehicle hardware and software skunkworks team. The result: a simple, efficient, flexible ecosystem to deliver a family of affordable, electric, software-defined vehicles – the first of which is a midsize, four-door electric pickup that will be assembled at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant for U.S. and export markets. Its launch is scheduled for 2027.

Advanced EV’s Design Concept Engineering team is looking for an EE Staff 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
• 10+ 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
• Experience in technical leadership

Even better, you may have…

• 10+ 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 change maker, 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, and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care, parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care 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.

Visa sponsorship is available for this position.