Electronics

This is an area where many of the candidates we have seen so far have been lacking, so it is worth being clear about what we mean. We are not looking for a PCB layout specialist. We are looking for someone who is comfortable working with electronics: able to read schematics confidently, produce simple schematics where required, select suitable components, review PCB designs produced internally or by third party suppliers, bring up new hardware, debug board level problems, and use oscilloscopes, logic analysers, multimeters and other laboratory equipment with confidence.

You do not necessarily need to be producing complex multi layer PCB layouts yourself, but you should be capable of reviewing designs, asking the right engineering questions, and working alongside external PCB designers and manufacturers.

Systems Engineering

This is probably the most important capability of all. We need someone who understands how products are engineered, not just how software is written. That means being comfortable capturing requirements, turning customer needs into technical solutions, producing engineering specifications, working with internal stakeholders and external suppliers, participating in design reviews, understanding technical risk, making engineering trade offs, and supporting verification and validation.

Mechanical Awareness

We are not recruiting a mechanical engineer, but we do need someone who understands that products have to fit together physically: designing electronics that fit inside an enclosure, appreciating battery replacement and serviceability, understanding manufacturing constraints, working alongside mechanical engineers, and using or understanding 3D printed prototypes. Anyone who has taken a product from concept to manufacture will normally already have this awareness.

Product Development

You should have experience across the complete engineering lifecycle, including concept development, requirements capture, prototype development, product integration, verification and validation, manufacturing support, customer support and continuous product improvement.

Leadership

For the Principal role especially, we are looking for someone who naturally becomes a technical leader: comfortable mentoring junior engineers, reviewing designs, helping establish engineering standards, supporting less experienced firmware engineers, and working across multiple engineering disciplines. We are not necessarily looking for a line manager, but we are looking for someone that other engineers naturally seek technical advice from.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Commercial experience developing embedded products
• Strong Embedded C/C++ development experience
• Good understanding of microcontroller based systems
• Experience with RTOS, watchdogs, interrupts and state machine design
• Good understanding of communication protocols such as SPI, I²C and UART
• Ability to read and understand electronic schematics
• Experience debugging both hardware and firmware
• Practical experience using oscilloscopes, logic analysers and other electronic test equipment
• Structured approach to engineering problem solving
• Ability to work across multiple engineering disciplines
• Good communication skills and a collaborative approach

Desirable Experience

• STM32 or ARM Cortex-M devices
• PCB design or PCB design review
• Low power and battery powered products
• Industrial communications (CAN, RS485, Modbus, LoRa, Bluetooth, etc.)
• Product verification and validation
• Requirements capture and systems engineering
• Prototype development
• Design for Manufacture (DFM) and Design for Test (DFT)
• Python or other engineering scripting tools
• Altium or similar ECAD tools
• ATEX / IECEx or industrial product compliance

The Sort of Companies We'd Expect Candidates to Come From

We are more interested in engineers who have developed physical products than software only companies. Examples might include industrial electronics, instrumentation, medical devices, aerospace, defence, automotive electronics, robotics, industrial automation, scientific instrumentation, communications equipment, and test and measurement.

For the same reason, this role is unlikely to suit candidates whose experience is almost entirely firmware only, hardware in the loop testing, validation engineering, software engineering with limited electronics exposure, or engineers who have never worked with real hardware. These may well be excellent software engineers, but they are unlikely to be the right fit for this particular role.

Personal Attributes

• Enjoys building real products rather than simply writing software
• Naturally curious and enjoys learning new technologies
• Takes ownership of technical problems
• Practical, hands on and enjoys working in the laboratory
• Can balance engineering quality with commercial priorities
• Works well in a collaborative, multidisciplinary team
• Happy working within a fast moving SME where no two days are the same

Why Join Us?

You will work on industrial sensing products deployed worldwide, solving real engineering challenges across embedded electronics, firmware, industrial communications and product development. Unlike larger organisations, you will have visibility across the complete engineering lifecycle, from concept and prototype through manufacture, customer deployment and continuous product improvement, giving broad technical experience and significant opportunities for professional growth.

Benefits

• Pension: 5% company contribution with 3%+ employee contribution (following probation)
• Private healthcare with Vitality
• Flexible working arrangements
• Life insurance
• Cycle to work scheme
• 25 days holiday plus your birthday off and a volunteering day
• Fruit
• Air conditioning in the summer

How to Apply

Apply now or send your CV to danni@cortechtalentsolutions.co.uk