Electrical Engineer Research Assistant Jobs in Raleigh, NC

NIRSense is a cardiology company focused on developing world-leading non-invasive medical devices. Our tools measure oxygenation changes in the body 10x deeper than typical pulse oximetry and track the electrophysiological activity of muscles and the brain. We are a growing team of technology developers seeking candidates interested in helping advance our capabilities for a wide range of interested stakeholders who are driven to transform the way humans understand and interact with their own health.

NIRSense is seeking an experienced senior electrical engineer to own early-stage hardware prototyping within our growing engineering and scientific team in its Morrisville, NC office. This person will work at the front end of the technology pipeline, taking physiological sensing concepts from feasibility analysis through prototype demonstration in a relevant environment. Working alongside our biosensing scientists and product hardware team, they will design, build, and characterize the prototype hardware behind them. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in low-noise analog design, strong experimental and measurement rigor, and a track record of independently turning early concepts into deployable prototypes.

Salary: The compensation package will be commensurate with the successful applicant's experience.

Hours: Full-time

Travel: 0-10%

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in electrical engineering, with significant focus on research, feasibility, or advanced development work in biomedical sensing or a related measurement-driven field.
• Demonstrated ability to independently take a sensing concept from first principles through characterized, working prototype hardware.
• Deep hands-on expertise in low-noise analog and mixed-signal design for physiological signals and their data acquisition chains.
• Ability to derive performance targets from the signal of interest and intended use, and to design and measure against them.
• Demonstrated experimental rigor in isolating variables, quantifying measurement uncertainty, and distinguishing real effects from artifacts.
• Strong benchtop skills with standard lab instrumentation, including building custom characterization fixtures.
• Strong lab debugging skills to bring up new prototype hardware and isolate faults to root cause.
• Experience building and delivering multiple working units of a prototype design, not single one-offs, including assembly coordination.
• Rapid prototyping experience with dev kits and test boards to de-risk new components and architectures.
• Proficiency in PCB design tools (Altium Designer preferred) and in a scientific computing environment for data analysis and modeling.
• Strong technical writing and communication skills, with experience authoring test plans and characterization reports that others can act on, and presenting results across disciplines.

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with optical or bioelectric sensing front-end design including circuit-level artifact rejection.
• Experience architecting a prototype around its sensitive nodes — separating power domains, isolating sensitive analog, and managing interface boundaries.
• Experience defining per-unit functional verification and calibration so results are comparable across a batch of units.
• Experience designing low-power architectures and battery management systems for body-worn devices.
• Familiarity with C/C++ and embedded integration with BLE-enabled microcontrollers.
• Familiarity with electrical safety and EMC standards (IEC 60601-1, IEC 60601-1-2) and medical device design controls.
• Experience with defense or field-deployed programs and their environmental and EMC expectations.
• Peer-reviewed publications or issued patents, or experience supporting SBIR/STTR proposals.

• Own early-stage electrical prototyping for physiological sensing, from concept through prototype demonstration in a relevant environment (TRL 6 and below).
• Design low-noise optical and bioelectric front-ends and their acquisition chains, from architecture through schematic capture and PCB layout.
• Build, bring up, and debug prototype boards and the characterization fixtures that support them.
• Deliver small batches of prototype units for internal studies and external use, including assembly coordination, functional acceptance testing, and calibration.
• Derive performance requirements from the underlying physiology, physics, and intended use, and define the measurements that verify them.
• Characterize the integrated signal chain against those requirements, quantifying noise, drift, and measurement uncertainty to separate sensing performance from artifact and instrumentation error.
• Evaluate new components, sensors, and architectures to de-risk them before they reach a product design.
• Author test plans and characterization reports that document results and design rationale.
• Hand off de-risked designs to the product hardware team with supporting data, known limitations, and open risks.
• Report to the Electrical Engineering R&D Manager.