Design Engineer

Position Summary:

The Design Engineer is part of the Design Engineering Department. Primary responsibility are designing and developing electronic hardware and software for specific customer markets.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Evaluates initial request for quotation and generates preliminary hardware design and bill of materials for estimating the product cost.
2. Visits customers when required and/or as needed to discuss product requirements.
3. Generates Ghant chart or product development schedule showing tasks to be completed and estimated completion times.
4. Designs hardware and generates schematic using Mentor Graphics DxDesigner schematic capture software.
5. Generates bill of materials.
6. Conducts a design review with engineering and manufacturing departments.
7. Supervises printed circuit board layout and provides instruction on component placement and trace routing.
8. Writes and debugs assembly and/or C language software programs for microcontroller and/or FPGA selected for the product.
9. Provides technical support to the production and quality assurance departments; and customer support for current and legacy products.
10. Directs and coordinates manufacturing of prototype products or systems.
11. Characterizes and verifies performance of final product to insure adherence to requirements (specifications).
12. Analyzes data from design, test and verification to determine if design meets functional and performance specifications.
13. All other duties as assigned by management to ensure the success of Futaba.

Experience and Educational Requirements:

1. Bachelor’s degree (B.S.) in Electrical Engineering from a four-year college or university.
2. 3-5 years related design experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
3. Proficient knowledge and use of common test, measurement, and diagnostic equipment found in engineering laboratories for electronics.
4. Strong working knowledge of engineering related hardware and software and competent using the following computer operating system and application software: MS Windows, Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, Autodesk AutoCAD, and industry standard CAD software for circuit design (schematic capture, design simulation, etc.)
5. Strong working knowledge of RF technologies, such as: Bluetooth, WiFi, and NFC.
6. Knowledge of thermal management and environmental requirements (shock, vibration, temperature).

Minimum Skills, Knowledge & Ability Requirements:

1. Strong written communication skills: Ability to read and write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, and technical procedures, or governmental regulations.
2. Strong verbal communication skills: Ability to effectively communicate information in one-on-one and small group situations to customers, clients, and other employees of the organization. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers and customers.
3. Strong organizational skills and detail oriented.
4. Advanced math skills: Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plane and solid geometry and trigonometry. Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.
5. Advanced electronic skills. Ability to understand both digital and analog circuits.
6. Reasoning skills: Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an associate encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions:The noise level in the work environment is generally quiet.

Physical & Mental Requirements:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions:

1. Sedentary physical activity requiring frequent reaching, lifting, finger dexterity, grasping, feeling, repetitive motions, talking and hearing.
2. Visual requirement is for close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, color vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
3. 80% or more time is spent looking directly at a computer.
4. Employee is occasionally required to stand, walk (or otherwise be mobile).
5. Occasional lifting or moving items up to 25lbs.
6. Ability to deal with stressful situations as they arise, apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions, deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.