Principal Electrical Engineer

Location: San Jose, CA - Hybrid 4/days in office, Friday remote

Semtech's force sensing solutions eliminate the design compromises inherent in traditional mechanical buttons and capacitive touch, delivering sealed, material‑agnostic interfaces that enhance both user experience and product reliability.

In this role, you will be working closely with our mechanical, electrical, and software teams to integrate our sensing products into our customers’ electronic devices. You will collaborate with various OEMs on next generation products, including laptops, mobile phones, automotive steering wheels & smart surfaces, fitness trackers, and industrial display panels. Your core responsibilities include independently leading schematic designs, PCB layouts, Gerber files, bill of materials, fabrication notes and design reviews;

providing technical judgment and direction in component selection and sourcing to meet electrical, mechanical, cost, and reliability requirements; managing vendors to ensure on‑time delivery of the designed boards and modules. You also own board‑level & system‑level evaluation, characterization, and debug of fabricated circuit boards, modules and prototypes. Additionally, you will work closely with R&D team to perform bench‑level verification of the new chips and resolve system‑level issues for both internal and external customers.

Your tasks can vary from electrical design, mechanical design, and firmware integration. You will experience the entire product lifecycle from concept design and proof‑of‑concept builds through mass production. You will need to travel to customers or OEMs in Asia and Europe to provide technical support. This position offers the chance to collaborate with MEMS and CMOS designers, contributing to continuous improvements across our product portfolio.

This is a fast‑paced role requiring engineers who are eager to learn and thrive in a dynamic environment.

• Design and Development: Propose and implement innovative solutions for customers particularly in mechanical, electrical, software integration and algorithm development; develop and build proof‑of‑concept demos and prototypes; perform electrical design, PCB layout & fabrication, and electrical component sourcing; conduct debugging and hardware bring‑up of solutions of targeted applications; support R&D test & evaluation board design & fabrication; manage PCB vendors.
• Customer Support and Engagement: Manage customer evaluation kits and sensor modules design and fabrication; promote cutting‑edge HMI sensor solutions; provide multidisciplinary technical support (hardware, firmware and mechanical) to customers from concept to mass production.
• Test and Characterization: Work closely with the R&D team on sensor‑level and system‑level test and characterization; conduct competitor analysis and failure analysis.
• Technical Documentation and Training: Provide product training to customers, sales and FAEs; create and author technical documentation including datasheets, application notes, design guides, and white papers.
• Collaboration: Collect customer feedback and requests, liaise with marketing and R&D to drive continuous improvements, shape roadmaps, and develop new technologies.
• Industry engagement: Stay current with the latest advancements in consumer electronics and related industries.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field required
• 8+ years of relevant professional experience in electronic design, spanning proof‑of‑concept through mass production

• Proficiency with Altium, Cadence, or Siemens for schematic capture and PCB layout with multiple boards fabricated.
• Hands‑on experience in analog / mixed‑signal circuitry.
• Hands‑on experience in one or more of the following areas: ADCs, sensor, embedded system design, firmware development, sensor signal post‑processing.
• Hands‑on experience with digital communication interfaces (such as I2C, SPI, UART, or similar protocols) for complex embedded system integration and validation.
• Experience developing or modifying software or firmware using C/C++,…