Sr. Hardware Engineer

Hardware Engineer

The Hardware Engineer role focuses primarily on sustaining existing products, improving production yield and processes, and owning custom test equipment, while also contributing to new product design and development. This position offers a broad hardware scope across digital, mixed-signal, RF, and analog domains, with a strong emphasis on RF design and measurement. It is a long-term, onsite role that provides significant ownership, technical influence, and variety of work in a regulated, safety‑critical environment.

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Responsibilities

• Lead sustainment activities for existing hardware products, proactively identifying and resolving issues to improve production yield and reliability.
• Analyze recurring production and field issues, implement corrective actions, and optimize designs and processes to enhance manufacturability and performance.
• Own the design and development of custom test equipment and test station hardware used for production, qualification, and automated test.
• Design circuit boards for test stations, including power supplies, communication interfaces, RF sections, and integration of processors and FPGAs.
• Act as a key stakeholder in new hardware designs by participating in design reviews, providing detailed technical feedback, and influencing architecture and implementation decisions.
• Contribute to new product design and development when sustainment activities are well managed, including schematic capture, layout guidance, and design validation.
• Perform full lifecycle hardware design using Altium, from schematic capture through manufacturing documentation and support.
• Design and analyze RF circuits, including transmitters, receivers, filters, amplifiers, mixers, frequency synthesis, impedance matching, shielding, and grounding.
• Specify, implement, and verify high-speed interfaces, processors, microcontrollers, and mixed-signal circuitry across a variety of compute platforms and communication interfaces.
• Use common electrical test equipment such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, signal generators, logic analyzers, and digital multimeters to validate and troubleshoot designs.
• Support design-for-test initiatives, ensuring hardware is compatible with automated test systems and robust measurement strategies.
• Collaborate with contract manufacturers and component suppliers to resolve production, quality, and yield issues, and to implement design or process changes as needed.
• Participate in environmental screening and qualification testing, including HALT/HASS, ESS, vibration, and temperature testing, and use results to drive design improvements.
• Work within regulated design and manufacturing processes, adhering to relevant quality and design assurance standards and documentation practices.
• Partner with cross-functional teams, including product development, test engineering, and manufacturing, to ensure hardware meets performance, reliability, and compliance requirements.
• Support automated test and data analysis activities by working with software and test engineering teams that use tools such as LabVIEW, Python, C/C++, MATLAB, and NI hardware.
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Essential Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field.
• At least 8 years of hardware design experience.
• Well-rounded hardware spanning digital, mixed-signal, RF, and analog design.
• Strong RF design experience, including work with transmitters, receivers, filters, amplifiers, mixers, frequency synthesis, impedance matching, shielding, grounding, and RF measurement techniques.
• Experience with high-speed interfaces, processors, and microcontrollers, preferably across a variety of interfaces and compute platforms.
• Full lifecycle design experience using Altium, from schematic capture through manufacturing support.
• Proficiency with common electrical test equipment such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, signal generators, logic analyzers, and digital multimeters.
• Comfort starting in a sustainment-focused role, including design for test stations and support of product development as needed.
• Ability to design boards for test stations and support test fixture design.
• Experience in regulated design and manufacturing environments, such as those following AS9100, DO-160, DO-254, or comparable quality and design-assurance practices.
• Ability to work onsite five days per week.
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Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Experience with aviation or avionics hardware, including transponders, ADS‑B, surveillance, or other safety-critical electronic products.
• Experience in safety‑critical or highly regulated electronic product development.
• Experience designing boards that include FPGAs, especially in systems integrating processors and FPGAs, along with power supplies, communication signals, and RF for transmitting and receiving.
• Exposure to firmware and FPGA‑based systems, and microcontroller‑based designs.
• Experience with test fixture design and hardware for automated test environments.
• Familiarity with tools used for automated test and data analysis, such as LabVIEW, Python, C/C++, MATLAB, and NI hardware.
• Experience with environmental screening and qualification testing, including HALT/HASS, ESS, vibration, and temperature testing.
• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers and component suppliers to address production and quality issues.
• Interest in long‑term career growth in a role that combines sustainment, test, and new product development.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary teams and communicate complex technical concepts clearly.
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Work Environment

This is an onsite role based in a hardware-focused engineering environment, with work performed on site five days a week. The engineer works hands‑on with lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, signal generators, logic analyzers, and digital multimeters, as well as custom test stations and NI‑based test hardware. The setting is a regulated design and manufacturing environment that follows structured quality and design assurance practices, supporting safety‑critical and high‑reliability electronic products. The position offers a stable, long‑term opportunity with a culture that values technical ownership, cross‑disciplinary collaboration, and the chance to influence new designs while maintaining a strong focus on product sustainment and continuous improvement.

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Job Type & Location

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Bingen, WA.

Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $62.50 - $67.31/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)

Workplace Type

This is a fully onsite position in Bingen,WA.

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on Oct 6, 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 without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

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

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.