Lead Engineer
NIELSEN KELLERMANDescription: The Lead Engineer at Nielsen-Kellerman Co. (“NK”) is a technical leader driving a diverse portfolio of low-power electronic products from concept through production. The Lead Engineer owns simultaneous cross-functional projects spanning hardware, firmware and mechanical engineering, working with Product Management on requirements, running sprints and managing priorities and risks. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can balance strategic project ownership with real engineering depth, and who's energized by keeping fast-moving, multidisciplinary projects on track. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Be an integral part of a “concept-to-customer” design team launching new low-power electronic products every year and sustaining and improving existing designs Own simultaneous cross-functional projects (Hardware, Firmware, Mechanical) Work with Product Management to define functional requirements and storyboards Balance budget and resource constraints against project scope and MVP features Prioritize and organize overall work, avoiding cross-functional roadblocks Proactively identify/develop mitigation plans for technical, schedule and supply chain risks Organize and run sprints, technical reviews and status meetings Remove roadblocks, champion and make key decisions that keep projects moving Dig into and help solve technical problems across disciplines Manage the interface between engineering and external partners/contractors Drive design reviews, ensuring deliverables meet quality, compliance and manufacturing standards Enforce engineering best practices (version control, design review, testing standards) across the engineering team Personal Qualities for Success in this Job Ability to work quickly yet carefully and within established standards and practices Initiative to work independently combined with the judgement to ask appropriate questions Self-organization to manage assignments to meet deadlines Personal interest in being part of a smaller, entrepreneurial team designing products for cost-effective US manufacturing Empathetic to user experience and interested in making products that are enjoyable to use as well as effective and reliable Analytical and good at solving complex problems Interested in learning new things Open to feedback Collaborative Requirements: Qualifications and Experience Required: 4-year BS degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or other relevant engineering specialty or equivalent training, certifications or experience 7+ years of experience developing physical electronic products with at least 3 years in a technical/project lead role spanning multiple disciplines Demonstrated experience taking products through the full “concept-to-customer” lifecycle Working knowledge of low-power electronics design principles (component selection, power budgeting, sleep-modes) sufficient to evaluate tradeoffs Familiarity with embedded firmware development practices and constraints (RTOS vs. bare-metal, low-power techniques, communication protocols such as BLE, Wi-Fi and Cellular) Understanding of mechanical design and injection molding sufficient to asses mechanical tradeoffs and participate in reviews of deliverables Track record of managing project budgets, schedules and resource allocation, including making scope/MVP tradeoff decisions under constraints Proven experience running Agile/Scrum or similar sprint-based processes for hardware development, including backlog management and cross-functional sprint planning Experience identifying and mitigating technical, schedule and supply-chain risk on hardware programs, including component sourcing/lead-time risk Familiarity with relevant compliance and quality standards for electronic products (FCC/CE, UL/IEC safety standards, RoHS/REACH) and experience driving products through certification Strong track record of leading design reviews and enforcing engineering best practices (version…