Staff Electrical Test Development Engineer - NPI

About Mainspring

Mainspring Energy manufactures and delivers fuel-flexible, low-emissions local power solutions that rapidly add new capacity and deliver reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric power. The company began commercial shipments of its Mainspring Linear Generators in 2020 and today has hundreds of megawatts in advanced development and field operations for leading Fortune 500 companies, data centers, and utilities. Mainspring also partners with global energy leaders including AEP, NextEra Energy Resources, Schneider Electric, and more.

The core values that ground our work, guide our decisions, and connect us together:

• Pragmatic Optimism
• Excellence without Ego
• Proactive Collaboration

Job Overview

Are you a hardware-software hybrid who thrives on designing complex, automated testing architectures? Do you prefer the challenge of driving rigorous manufacturing test strategies and leading root-cause analysis on complex yield issues over routine, single-domain design tasks? Mainspring Energy is looking for a highly autonomous, intellectually curious Senior Test Development Engineer to join our core Electrical Engineering organization. Unlike traditional test engineering roles confined to running basic scripts or simple end-of-line checks, this is a high-impact engineering position where you will design sophisticated electro-mechanical test fixtures and lead complex technical escalations with our top-tier contract manufacturers. Working alongside a specialized team of expert test engineers, you will have the execution autonomy to establish rigorous test coverage standards, build custom test hardware from the ground up, and directly elevate the reliability of our revolutionary power generation fleet.

Responsibilities

• Establish Mainspring's overall test strategy for circuit boards and electrical assemblies

• Develop test requirements and translate them into a variety of testers, from manual screening tests to fully automated testers

• Design and integrate complex hardware test fixtures, including mass interconnect solutions and swappable bed-of-nails systems

• Determine which projects to insource and which to outsource. For outsourced projects, you will manage external partners that are developing and building testers

• Deploy test systems at our manufacturing partners' facilities to capture quality issues earlier in the build process

• Drive test coverage improvements and manage technical escalations with contract manufacturers (e.g., optimizing Flying Probe, ICT, and AOI test coverage)

• Collaborate with product design engineers to improve their designs for manufacturability (DFM), testability (DFT), and cost reduction

• Validate test systems and production yields using statistical data analysis tools (e.g., GR&R, Cpk, SPC)

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience with a Bachelor's degree, or 4+ years of experience with a Master's degree, in Electrical Engineering or a related field

• Hands-on experience working as an electrical engineer or new product introduction (NPI) engineer developing and realizing electrical testers for manufacturing. You're able to talk in detail about what, why, and how a tester design works

• A strong understanding of I/O types, analog, digital, communication buses

• Advanced experience with AOI, flying probe, and ICT testing methods

• Experience developing test system documentation, including test requirements, schematics, coverage analysis, etc

• Proven competency in a physical hardware lab environment setting up test benches, instrumenting hardware under test, and maintaining clean, safe laboratory testing practices

• Software programming and development skills for automating electrical testers

• A "collaborate-first" mindset and have successfully communicated across a range of teams and personalities

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience implementing mass interconnect solutions, bed of nails fixtures, and electro-mechanical fixtures

• Familiarity with design validation testing, including developing test plans and executing testing

• Proficiency in test automation programming and scripting languages (e.g. LabView, LabWindows, TestStand and/or Python)

$157,250 - $185,000 a year

This position is a hybrid position (onsite + remote) at our Menlo Park HQ and will require you to be onsite as required to perform testing, troubleshooting, manufacturing support, etc. This role also requires 10% to 15% domestic/international travel to support manufacturing partners.

The salary will be adjusted to reflect local market conditions based on employee location as well as the experience of the employee. Along with the base salary, Mainspring offers pre-IPO stock options + benefits.

Does your experience not meet all of our posted requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to positions unless they meet every listed requirement. At Mainspring, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, flexible, and collaborative environment, so if you want to help us transition the world to clean and affordable electricity, and don't meet all posted requirements for a particular role, we'd still love to hear from you. Mainspring can sometimes be flexible enough to shift responsibilities for the right person, or otherwise identify open or upcoming roles that may better fit your professional background.

In more traditional words, Mainspring Energy, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

This compensation and benefits information is based on Mainspring Energy's estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future. We generally do not negotiate on salary once we have made an offer. The level of pay within the range will depend on a variety of job-related factors that may include location, relevant prior experience and/or education, or particular skills and expertise. New hires joining the company tend to be paid within the starting base pay range noted above, with opportunities to increase pay over time based on development of additional skills, competencies, and company-specific knowledge.