Contract Graduate Electrical Engineer Jobs in Portland, OR

This hands-on Electrical Engineer role focuses on supporting and advancing PCBA-based product designs that are in late-stage development as well as contributing to new hardware initiatives. You will work across the full product lifecycle, from schematic capture and PCB layout through board bring-up, testing, EMI/EMC validation, and documentation, while owning defined portions of projects and contributing independently with minimal ramp-up time.

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Responsibilities

• Support and own electrical design work across multiple PCBA-based products throughout the full product lifecycle.
• Contribute to schematic capture and PCB layout, providing practical layout input and making design modifications as needed.
• Assist with board bring-up, troubleshooting, and late-stage design validation for production hardware.
• Act as the primary electrical engineer on assigned portions of projects, owning specific sections of board bring-up and electrical functionality.
• Develop, update, and maintain clear and accurate design documentation for new and existing electrical designs.
• Support EMI and EMC testing, including coordinating and accompanying products to third-party test houses and working through test results and compliance issues.
• Provide a detailed second review of existing designs during final validation phases to identify potential issues and improvements.
• Use standard lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, power supplies, and logic analyzers to debug, validate, and characterize hardware performance.
• Collaborate closely with other electrical engineers and cross-functional team members, sharing troubleshooting insights and contributing to design decisions.
• Take ownership of assigned projects from start to finish, ensuring designs move successfully from concept through validation and into production.

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Essential Skills

• Hands-on experience working through the full product lifecycle for hardware products, from initial design through validation, documentation, and production.
• Practical PCBA experience with real production hardware, including board bring-up and lab-based debugging.
• Experience with schematic capture and exposure to PCB layout, with the ability to support and modify designs independently.
• Comfort working independently and contributing immediately with minimal onboarding, taking responsibility for defined project sections.
• Strong troubleshooting mindset, with the ability to diagnose and resolve electrical issues on complex boards.
• Collaborative approach when working with other electrical engineers and cross-functional teams.
• Solid understanding of digital hardware fundamentals, including digital signals, microcontroller interfacing with external circuitry, and basic communication protocols such as I²C.
• Practical analog and power fundamentals, including signal integrity and signal switching, simple amplifier circuits and gain stages, protection circuitry, and transistor basics such as NPN devices.
• Experience driving PWM-controlled loads, such as heaters or similar components.
• Ability to create, maintain, and interpret clear technical and electrical documentation.
• Proficiency using standard lab equipment, including oscilloscopes, power supplies, logic analyzers, and related test instruments.
• Ability to take projects from start to finish, understanding both analog and digital fundamentals and full product development flows.

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Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Prior experience with Altium Designer for schematic capture and PCB layout.
• Exposure to EMI and EMC test house environments, including supporting compliance testing and troubleshooting failures.
• Experience working with complex, multi-layer boards, even if PCB layout responsibility was partial.
• Comfortable in fast-paced hardware development environments with multiple concurrent projects.
• Familiarity with C programming as it relates to digital hardware and microcontroller-based systems, even if firmware development is not a primary responsibility.
• Knowledge of digital circuit design, analog circuit design, and general digital hardware principles.
• Ability to work effectively in a lab-centric environment and adapt quickly to evolving design and test priorities.

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Work Environment

This role is 100% on-site at a hardware-focused facility in the Portland, OR area (SW 72nd Ave). You will work in a lab environment that relies heavily on standard electronic test equipment such as oscilloscopes, power supplies, logic analyzers, and related tools to support board bring-up, debugging, and validation activities. The position is structured as a 6‑month contract and involves regular hands-on work with production PCBA hardware, as well as occasional visits to third-party EMI/EMC test houses for compliance testing and validation. The environment is fast-paced and collaborative, with a strong focus on practical engineering, clear documentation, and direct ownership of project deliverables.

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This is a Contract position based out of Portland, OR.

The pay range for this position is $52.88 - $58.00/hr.

Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: • Medical, dental & vision • Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital • 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available • Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) • Short and long-term disability • Health Spending Account (HSA) • Transportation benefits • Employee Assistance Program • Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

This is a fully onsite position in Portland,OR.

This position is anticipated to close on Sep 4, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications withoutregard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability,sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protectedby law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification oradjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability,please email actalentaccommodation@actalentservices.com for other accommodation options.

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