Senior Electronics Engineer

Sportable Ltd; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Sportable Ltd in Cape Town develops advanced sports hardware, embedding electronics inside balls and player tags. The Senior Electronics Engineer will drive the electronics architecture for a new generation of instrumented products, focusing on power, radio, charging, and sensing, from concept through production.

This hands-on role requires delivering low‑power, space‑constrained designs, leading schematic/PCB work in Altium, and coordinating EMC and certification activities with a small

Qualifications

• Degree in Electronic/Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 6+ years in electronics design for low-power embedded MCU-based products (experience not in education list).
• At least two products taken from concept through to volume production.
• Schematic design and PCB layout proven in Altium.
• Mixed-signal design under severe space, mass, power, and cost constraints.
• Strong hardware debugging and analysis, distinguishing measured vs. expected outcomes.
• Design-for-manufacture handover to contract manufacturer with fab and assembly pack.

Responsibilities

• Architecture & Design for sealed, battery-powered product: power budget, charging, radio/antenna strategy, sensing and data-offload.
• Lead schematic design and PCB layout for high-performance embedded systems (Altium).
• Lead wireless & EMC: charging, radio integration, and certification planning at concept stage.
• Validation & Bring-Up: on-site lab and field validation, report deviations from design intent.
• Design Records & Review: capture design intent, alternatives, and rationale; participate in design reviews.
• Manufacturing & Lifecycle: design for manufacture and test, BOM lifecycle, and handover to contract manufacturer.

Skills

Low-power embedded MCU design

Schematic design and PCB layout

Mixed-signal design under space/mass/p

Design-for-manufacture handover

Hardware debugging and analysis

Education

Degree in Electronic/Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

Job description

Job Description

At Sportable, we're not just redefining the future of sports technology; we're creating it. As a leading sports data provider, we've pioneered world-first innovations such as our range of Smart Balls, and we continue to expand into new sports and new markets. Our products combine cutting-edge embedded systems, wireless technology, and cloud-based platforms.

We are looking for a Senior Electronics Engineer on a fixed-term contract basis to design the electronics for our ball and player tag products, from architecture through to production. This is a hands-on, senior design engagement at the centre of our hardware roadmap as we scale into Premier League Soccer and American Football NFL.

Role Overview

You will design the electronics for a new generation of instrumented ball and player tag, working alongside our Principal Hardware Engineer, who holds design authority, together with our Mechanical Technical Lead and our Embedded Firmware team.

This is a design engagement with genuinely hard constraints. The electronics live inside a ball and inside player tags and hit hard as a matter of normal use. Every cubic millimetre, every gram and every milliwatt is contested. If you like problems where power, radio, mass, mechanical envelope, manufacturability and certification are all pulling against each other at once, this is that job.

Scope

The engagement is structured based on hours worked. You provide the effort estimate for each phase, we accept it in writing, and that is the basis for that phase.

Key Responsibilities

• Architecture & Design
  • Design the architecture for a sealed, wirelessly charged, battery-powered product: power and energy budget, charging approach, radio and antenna strategy, sensing and data-offload.
  • Decompose product-level requirements into electronic requirements, and state the assumptions behind the decisions.
  • Lead schematic design and PCB layout for high-performance, low-power embedded systems (Altium).
• Wireless & EMC
  • Lead on inductive charging, radio integration and electromagnetic compatibility, including designing the certification route in at concept stage rather than discovering it at the test house.
  • Integrate antenna solutions on real boards: work to vendor and simulation inputs, tune the match, and measure rather than assume.
• Validation & Bring-Up
  • Support bring-up of your own designs on site, and validate in the lab and in live field environments with real teams and real athletes.
  • Report measured behaviour against the design intent, including where the board deviates from it.
• Design Records & Review
  • Capture design intent, the alternatives you considered, and why you rejected each one, so our team can extend the design without you. This is a deliverable, not a courtesy.
  • Take part in design reviews and track findings through to verified closure in the released files.
• Manufacturing & Lifecycle
  • Design for manufacture and test from the start. Produce the fabrication and assembly pack and support the handover to our contract manufacturer.
  • Maintain a BOM risk view: lifecycle status, lead times and second sources on critical parts.

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree in Electronic/Electrical Engineering or a related field.
• 6+ years in electronics design for low-power, embedded MCU-based products.
• At least two products personally taken from concept through to volume production. Not two prototypes. This is the requirement we weight most heavily.
• Proven schematic design and PCB layout in Altium.
• Mixed-signal design in a severely space, mass, power and cost constrained battery-powered product.
• Strong electronic debug and analysis skills, and the discipline to separate what you measured from what you expected.
• Design-for-manufacture handover to a contract manufacturer, including the fab and assembly pack, done personally.

Nice-to-Have

• RF and microwave design experience up to X-band, including UWB (Qorvo, STM, NXP or equivalent), GNSS, Bluetooth or NFC.
• Antenna integration and matching on real hardware.
• A PCA that survives repeated high-acceleration impact, or an equivalent shock and vibration duty.
• Nordic Semiconductor nRF52 / nRF53 / nRF54 series host design.
• High-rate IMU selection, calibration and data-offload architecture.
• Certification processes (CE, FCC, UKCA) and familiarity with CISPR 11 / EN 55011, FCC Part 15, EN 300 328, EN 302 065.
• Rigid-flex, flex, or module and antenna-in-package integration.
• Experience in sports technology or other rugged, real-world embedded applications.

Why Work With Sportable?

• A route to a permanent position if it suits both sides. Six months, then a permanent role designing world-first products.
• Work at the cutting edge of sports technology, on products that are changing how fans, players, and coaches experience the game.
• A hard, well-defined technical problem with real constraints, a small team, and no layer between your engineering and the outcome.
• Your designs get tested and validated directly with elite athletes and teams.
• Clear scope, defined gates and prompt decisions.

Diversity Statement

Sportable is a committed equal opportunities employer, and we welcome applications from disabled candidates, and those from minority ethnic backgrounds.