Senior Electrical Engineer

Senior Electrical Engineer

Burlingame, CA

Butlr is on a mission to make the built environment people-aware. We live and work in houses and buildings that aren't aware of their inhabitants. We heat and cool spaces when no one is in them, clean areas that haven't been used, and lease office space that no one is using. Our vision is to enable smarter buildings and increase the quality of life while respecting privacy.

Spun out of the MIT Media Lab in 2019 with offices in Silicon Valley and Boston, Butlr was founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs Honghao Deng and Jiani Zeng. Butlr pioneers in space occupancy and people sensing technologies and delivers rich spatial intelligence for workplace, retail, and healthcare use cases. We help customers revolutionize the way they operate in human-centric environments, ensuring efficiency and productivity at every step.

We are backed by top venture capital institutions and strategic investors such as Foundry Group, Tiger Global, Qualcomm Ventures, E14 Fund, and Carrier, among others. We are recognized as one of Fast Company's "2024 Most Innovative Companies", Inc. Magazine's "2023 Best in Business'' (AI & Data Category), World Economic Forum's Top Innovator in YES San Francisco Challenge, among other awards/recognitions. We operate with top occupiers, landlords, care facilities, and service providers in North America, Europe, and Asia. We pride ourselves in providing exceptional solutions and service to numerous prestigious customers, tech giants, and world's largest conglomerates and brands.

We are hiring talented and passionate people to join our team to help us continue our rapid growth.

About the Role:

This role enhances the reliability and performance of our hardware systems, with a heavy emphasis on system-level troubleshooting, vendor management, and test plan development — particularly for RF/wireless subsystems and battery/low-power design. You'll be the technical owner for diagnosing complex hardware issues across our sensor and gateway products, the primary technical contact for our suppliers and manufacturing partners, and the architect of the test plans that validate everything from RF and power behavior to reliability. It's a cross-functional role that rewards strong project management and disciplined documentation.

Responsibilities:

System Debug & Test

• Own end-to-end debug of complex, intermittent, system-level hardware failures, driving root-cause investigation across hardware, firmware, RF, and manufacturing domains, and validating fixes before deployment
• Develop, execute, and document comprehensive system-level test plans — functional, RF/wireless, environmental, power, battery, and reliability — with clear pass/fail criteria and the fixtures and instrumentation to validate hardware at the bench, in the chamber, and in the field

Vendor & Team Management

• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for component suppliers, chipset vendors, and contract manufacturers — leading design reviews, driving escalations, and holding vendors accountable to specs and commitments
• Provide technical management and direction to test engineers, including at our remote/overseas office, coordinating work across time zones to keep validation aligned with program schedules

Project Management & Documentation

• Plan and drive validation and debug workstreams to schedule, defining milestones, tracking dependencies, and communicating status across stakeholders
• Author and maintain clear technical documentation and repeatable processes, and contribute to hardware design review and NPI/manufacturing readiness (DFM feedback, test fixtures, production line issues)

Requirements:

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related field
• A minimum of 5 years of hands-on experience in hardware design and testing, preferably in an embedded systems environment
• Proven, hands-on track record troubleshooting and resolving complex hardware issues at the system level
• Demonstrated experience managing external vendors and manufacturing partners, including technical escalations, design reviews, and holding suppliers to spec
• Experience developing, executing, and documenting system-level test plans, including some RF or wireless testing (e.g. range, interference, throughput, link reliability)
• Demonstrated experience and understanding in circuit design, power design, sensor integration, and noise filtering techniques
• Strong communication, project management, and documentation skills — able to drive workstreams to schedule and produce clear test plans, reports, and root-cause analyses others can rely on
• Experience providing technical management or direction to test engineers, including a remote or overseas office across time zones
• Comfortable working in embedded Linux environments, with baseline embedded microcontroller experience and familiarity with the associated toolchains

Salary: $150-$200k based on experience

Location: Burlingame, CA

Benefits:

• World-class team with low ego.
• A work environment that is flexible
• Comprehensive health benefits package
• Retirement savings plan
• Flexible time off
• Professional development opportunities

Why working at Butlr is great!

We are building a culture that puts people first! We're a team of engaging, motivated, and intelligent problem-solvers who are committed to making an impact. We believe in fostering a culture of healthy work-life balance, and we encourage an inviting, collaborative, fun work environment.

Butlr is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage applicants of all backgrounds to apply!

Butlr provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.