We currently have an opening for an Electrical Engineer - Product Development (Full-Stack Hardware) in our Mason, Ohio location.
Summary:
This is a "full-stack" electrical engineering role for an engineer who wants to own a design from first sketch to the production line. You will define the requirements, design and prototype the electronics, write the embedded code to bring it to life, document it thoroughly, work with suppliers and contract manufacturers to build it, test the production units, and deliver a clean hand-off to manufacturing.
The products you will work on - garage door operators, controls, sensors, accessories, and connected devices across the Clopay and CornellCookson residential and commercial product lines - sit where electronics, motors, and mechanics meet. A broad electrical engineering foundation with electromechanical and embedded experience is essential. If you would rather see a product all the way through than hand it off halfway, we want to talk to you.
Responsibilities include:
- Requirements & Architecture: Translate product and customer requirements into electrical specifications and system architectures for garage door operators, controls, sensors, and accessories - balancing performance, safety, cost, and manufacturability.
- Circuit Design: Design analog, digital, mixed-signal, and power circuits, including AC/DC and DC/DC power supplies, motor drives, sensor interfaces, microcontroller subsystems, battery backup, and wireless/RF sections.
- Electromechanical Integration: Partner with mechanical engineers on motors, gearing, limit and position sensing, encoders, relays, solenoids, wire harnesses, connectors, and enclosures so the electronics and mechanics work as one reliable system.
- Embedded Development: Select microcontrollers and write, debug, and maintain embedded C/C++ for board bring-up, motor control, sensing, safety logic, and communication interfaces; collaborate with firmware and software teams on production code.
- Schematic & PCB Design: Capture schematics and lay out printed circuit boards (Altium, KiCad, or similar), applying DFM/DFT, thermal, EMC, and creepage/clearance best practices.
- Prototyping: Build, bring up, and debug prototypes - from development boards and breadboards through quick-turn PCBs and pre-production builds - including hands-on through-hole and surface-mount soldering and rework.
- Design Analysis: Perform worst-case, tolerance, derating, thermal, and power-budget analyses; lead and participate in design reviews and DFMEAs.
- Documentation: Create and maintain a complete design record - requirements, schematics, bills of material, fabrication and assembly packages, theory of operation, firmware release notes, test procedures, and test reports - released and controlled through ECN/ECO and PLM processes.
- Supplier & Vendor Management: Select components and work with distributors, component suppliers, PCB fabricators, and contract manufacturers (domestic and overseas) to quote, source, and build designs; manage second sources, lifecycle, and obsolescence.
- Manufacturing Builds: Support EVT, DVT, PVT, and pilot builds at contract manufacturers; review first articles, resolve build and yield issues, and drive corrective actions with vendors.
- Test & Validation: Develop and execute design verification plans on prototype and production units, including functional, environmental (temperature, humidity, vibration), life-cycle, ESD/surge/transient, and reliability testing.
- Compliance & Certification: Guide products through safety and regulatory certification - UL 325, UL 991, FCC Part 15 / ISED, and related standards - including EMC pre-compliance testing and coordination with third-party labs.
- Production Test: Define end-of-line and in-circuit test requirements and design or specify the test fixtures and programming stations used on the manufacturing line.
- Hand-off to Production: Deliver a clean, complete release to manufacturing - released documentation, approved vendors, validated test processes, and trained production and service teams - then provide sustaining support for field issues, cost reductions, and component changes.
- Cross-Functional Communication: Work closely with Product Management, Mechanical and Software Engineering, Quality, Sourcing, Manufacturing, and Customer Service; communicate status, risks, and recommendations to the team and leadership.
- Completes other engineering projects as assigned.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering.
- Minimum 5 years of electrical engineering experience in product development, including at least one product taken from concept through production release.
- Broad, hands-on knowledge of electronics design - analog, digital, mixed-signal, and power electronics.
- Embedded experience with microcontrollers (e.g., ARM Cortex-M) and C/C++, including board bring-up and debugging with JTAG/SWD.
- Electromechanical experience with motors (DC, BLDC, and/or AC induction), motor drivers, relays, sensors, and wiring harnesses.
- Proficiency in schematic capture and PCB layout.
- Experience working directly with PCB fabricators, contract manufacturers, and component suppliers to bring a design into production.
- Proficiency with standard lab equipment (oscilloscope, logic analyzer, DMM, power supplies, electronic loads, function generator) and sound measurement techniques.
- Working knowledge of common interfaces and protocols such as I2C, SPI, UART, RS-485, CAN, and PWM.
- Disciplined documentation habits and familiarity with BOM management, engineering change control, and PLM systems.
- Self-directed and organized - comfortable owning a design end to end and managing multiple projects at once.
- Clear written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
- Willingness to travel up to approximately 15% to suppliers, contract manufacturers, test labs, and Clopay manufacturing facilities.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in garage door / door operator, access control, building products, appliance, HVAC, or automotive electronics.
- Experience with wireless technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi, Zigbee/Thread/Matter, or sub-GHz RF (including rolling-code transmitters and receivers).
- Experience with safety-related design, such as entrapment protection, photoelectric and edge sensors, and UL 60730 Class B software.
- Experience with battery backup systems and battery charging circuits.
- Experience transferring products to overseas contract manufacturers.
- Familiarity with DFMEA, DOE, and statistical analysis; Six Sigma training a plus.
- Scripting for test automation and data analysis (Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, or similar) and version control with Git.
- Familiarity with mechanical CAD (SolidWorks, Creo, or similar) and 3D printing for enclosures and fixtures.
- Master of Science degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering.
