Systems Engineer - Module Integration

Socket.dev; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Equity

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) plan

Job summary

Socket.dev in Sunnyvale is seeking a highly technical Systems Engineer to own module-level integration and productization of sensing modules across optics, electronics, mechanics, and embedded software. You will specify requirements, drive early prototyping, and lead test and traceability for production readiness.

You will work with optics, electrical, mechanical, silicon, firmware and software teams, push for robust test coverage, KPIs, and data-driven decisions, support customer deployments,

Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Optics, or related field.
• 5+ years of hands-on systems, hardware or integration engineering on a physical product.
• Experience carrying a hardware product through the full cycle - prototype, engineering builds and production ramp.
• Strong lab skills and debugging instinct: comfortable with instrumentation.
• Familiarity with the mechanics of hardware productization: BOM and change control, travelers and work instructions, IQC / OQC / end-of-line test, yield and DPPM, calibration, serialization and traceability.
• Python for test automation and data analysis - able to pull a dataset and answer a question with it rather than wait for someone else to
• Comfort working across optics, electronics, mechanics and software without needing to be the deepest expert in any one of them
• Clear technical writing and the judgment to work across teams that do not report to you
• Willing to travel to manufacturing and vendor sites as builds require

Responsibilities

• Own module-level integration - bring subsystems together, get them working as a product, and debug the problems that only appear once they are combined
• Translate product requirements into quantifiable module specifications, and make sure those specs flow down coherently to the subsystem teams that have to meet them
• Drive system bringup for new hardware - new silicon, new PCBAs, new optics, new thermal designs — and be among the first to make a new configuration run end to end
• Plan and execute engineering builds, in-house and at contract manufacturers, and own the readiness criteria that gate them
• Define what we measure and why: test coverage, KPIs and pass/fail limits across component, subsystem and module level — and determine whether data from those levels actually agrees
• Contribute to early concept work and in-house prototyping for next-generation products, before a program formally begins
• Participate in failure analysis and root-cause investigations on prototype, production and field units
• Work directly with optics, electrical, mechanical, silicon, firmware and software teams
• Support customer engineering - understand customer requirements and how customers deploy our modules, and feed that back into what we build and how we test it

Skills

Python

Test automation

Data analysis

Lab skills

Debugging

Education

Master’s or PhD in Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Optics or related field

Job description

About the role

• We are seeking a highly technical, hands-on Systems Engineer to own module-level integration and productization of our sensing modules in a fast-paced robotics startup. This role is for someone who is comfortable across optics, custom silicon, electronics, mechanics, thermals and embedded software, and who is drawn to the problems that live between subsystems rather than inside any one of them. You will own the module end-to-end as a product - from specification and early prototyping, through system bringup and engineering builds with our contract manufacturers, to production ramp and the field. You will define what the module must achieve, make sure those requirements flow down to the subsystem teams that have to meet them, prove they are met with data, and build the test and traceability infrastructure that makes that possible at scale. Success in this role requires strong engineering intuition, disciplined execution, and the ability to hold system-level goals and low-level technical detail in view at the same time. The scope moves with our roadmap. In the near term the emphasis is production readiness for our current module — test coverage, specifications, traceability and build execution. As our next-generation program ramps, the emphasis shifts toward early concept work, in-house prototyping and bringup of entirely new hardware.

What you'll do

• Own module-level integration - bring subsystems together, get them working as a product, and debug the problems that only appear once they are combined
• Translate product requirements into quantifiable module specifications, and make sure those specs flow down coherently to the subsystem teams that have to meet them
• Drive system bringup for new hardware - new silicon, new PCBAs, new optics, new thermal designs — and be among the first to make a new configuration run end to end
• Plan and execute engineering builds, in-house and at contract manufacturers, and own the readiness criteria that gate them
• Define what we measure and why: test coverage, KPIs and pass/fail limits across component, subsystem and module level — and determine whether data from those levels actually agrees
• Contribute to early concept work and in-house prototyping for next-generation products, before a program formally begins
• Participate in failure analysis and root-cause investigations on prototype, production and field units
• Work directly with optics, electrical, mechanical, silicon, firmware and software teams
• Support customer engineering - understand customer requirements and how customers deploy our modules, and feed that back into what we build and how we test it

Required Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Optics, or a related field
• 5+ years of hands-on systems, hardware or integration engineering on a physical product
• Experience carrying at least one hardware product through the full cycle - prototype, engineering builds and production ramp - and having lived with the problems that surfaced at each stage
• Strong lab skills and real debug instinct: comfortable with instrumentation, able to isolate a problem that crosses hardware, firmware and software boundaries
• Working knowledge of failure analysis practice - structured root cause methods, non-destructive-first triage, corrective action, and reasoning from test and component data
• Familiarity with the mechanics of hardware productization: BOM and change control, travelers and work instructions, IQC / OQC / end-of-line test, yield and DPPM, calibration, serialization and traceability
• Python for test automation and data analysis - able to pull a dataset and answer a question with it rather than wait for someone else to
• Comfort working across optics, electronics, mechanics and software without needing to be the deepest expert in any one of them
• Clear technical writing and the judgment to work across teams that do not report to you
• Willing to travel to manufacturing and vendor sites as builds require

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with new product introduction and engineering builds at contract manufacturers
• Test station definition, deployment and correlation
• Requirements definition and specification flow-down across a multi-team hardware program
• Concept prototyping and bringup of new silicon or new board designs at the earliest stage of a program
• Experience managing EVT/DVT/PVT cycles and production ramp
• Domain exposure to LiDAR, cameras, optics, or precision opto-mechanical systems
• Ability to operate effectively in a startup environment with ambiguity, speed, and high ownership

Benefits (subject to location and local regulations)

• Competitive salary and equity
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Flexible vacation and time-off policy
• Collaborative, fast-paced, and inclusive work environment
• Opportunity to work oncutting-edgetechnologies with a highly cross-functional team