Product Development Engineer - (Embedded Systems & IoT Hardware)
New York, NY
Role Summary
We are seeking an innovative, hands-on Product Development Engineer to join our multidisciplinary team specializing in Design, Civil Engineering, Ecology, and Hydrology. You will play a pivotal role in building the physical foundation of a new kind of environmental intelligence system-designing and fabricating the custom sensing technologies that allow us to measure, understand, and respond to the natural and built environment.
This role leads the hardware development cycle from napkin sketch to field deployment. You will design the custom circuits, engineer the rugged enclosures, and develop the low-level embedded systems that capture critical environmental data. We know this is not a conventional consumer electronics or standard firmware job, and we hope you are as excited as we are about that. If you enjoy bridging the gap between physical hardware and complex ecological environments, we'd love to have you on our team.
This is a rare opportunity to join at the foundational stage of an ambitious and high-impact initiative. You will shape the technical DNA of a project focused on responsive environmental infrastructure and systems-level intelligence, working directly with design and engineering leaders on a mission to enable more resilient futures.
Minimum Skills
- Education: Bachelor's degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a closely related technical field.
- Experience: 5+ years of experience in hardware product development, embedded systems, or electronic device design-ideally with experience creating outdoor, industrial, or ruggedized devices.
- Circuit Design Skills: Proven expertise in schematic capture and PCB layout using industry-standard EDA tools (e.g., Altium Designer, KiCad, Eagle).
- Mechanical & Enclosure Design: Strong proficiency in 3D CAD modeling (e.g., SolidWorks, Fusion 360) for enclosure design, mechanical fitment, and rapid prototyping (3D printing, CNC machining).
- Embedded Programming: Solid programming skills in C/C++ for microcontrollers (e.g., ARM Cortex, ESP32, STM32) and familiarity with hardware protocols (RS485, Modbus, SDI-12, RS232, I2C, SPI, UART, ADC).
- Testing & Power Validation: Hands-on experience with standard lab equipment (oscilloscopes, multimeters) and power-profiling tools to debug, optimize, and long-term test ultra-low-power, solar-harvesting systems.
Preferred Skills
- Deep understanding of battery-powered and solar-harvesting power management strategies for long-term remote deployments.
- Prior experience working with environmental sensors (e.g., water quality probes, soil moisture sensors, weather stations, gas sensors).
- Exposure to integrating wireless modules (LoRa, Cellular/LTE-M, BLE) at the hardware level.
- A proactive, experimental mindset with a passion for ecological intelligence and building physical things that interact with the real world.
Expected Outcomes
- Sensor Nodes for Responsive Environments: Design sensor node solutions that respond to site, user, maintenance, material, connectivity, and power requirements while minimizing physical presence and operational burden.
- Custom Hardware Design: Architect, schematic-capture, and layout custom PCBs for environmental monitoring, low-power telemetry, and specialized sensor integration.
- Enclosure & Mechanical Engineering: Design, prototype, and test rugged, weatherproof (IP-rated) enclosures capable of withstanding diverse outdoor environmental conditions (submersion, extreme heat, UV exposure).
- Embedded Firmware Development: Write clean, optimized, low-level firmware (C/C++) for microcontrollers to handle sensor interfacing, power management, and local data logging.
- Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Work closely with designers, ecologists, hydrologists, and civil engineers to turn monitoring goals into hardware, sensor, and form-factor requirements. Because systems will be placed in occupied environments, experience with aesthetics, interaction, visibility, safety, and site integration is preferred.
- Testing & Field Deployment: Conduct rigorous lab bench testing, rapid prototyping, and field trials to validate hardware reliability, calibration, and power efficiency before scale deployment.
- Vendor & Production Coordination: Interface with PCB fabrication houses, component distributors, and manufacturing partners to oversee small-to-medium batch production runs.
- Technical Documentation & Specifications: Own and maintain clear hardware documentation, including design criteria, circuit diagrams, product data sheets, schematics, bills of materials, enclosure and mounting details, testing procedures, installation requirements, commissioning documentation, and hardware-related specifications.
What We Offer
- Own a part of the firm with ESOP eligibility after one year
- Flexible working - with every other Friday off
- Competitive Health plans, including PPO and HMO options, Dental and Vision plans
- Learning and Development stipend to use as you see fit
- Generous PTO and 8 paid holidays
- Automatic 401k enrollment
- Fun team events, lunches and happy hours to get to know colleagues outside of work
- A tangible opportunity to truly help the environment!
Compensation:
The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to: skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. At Sherwood Design Engineers, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is $105,000 to $180,000. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled.
