Sensor Test Engineer (Pittsburgh)

Location : In Person — 6101 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

Company : Advanced Optronics Inc.

Team Size : 7

Reports to : R&D MEMS Engineer

Type : Full-time

What we're building

Are you ready to help develop a revolutionary medical sensor technology from the ground up? We are an innovative seed-stage startup that builds microscopic medical sensors 10x thinner than a human hair that go inside life-changing medical devices. Our thin-film capacitive sensors let a medical device measure flexure and contact forces on tissue. Our first application is cochlear implant electrodes to address hearing loss. We are fully integrated and do all of our design, fabrication, and testing in-house.

The role

We are seeking a hands-on Sensor Test Engineer to own the characterization and validation of our novel MEMS devices, along with the custom equipment behind it. You will be the critical link between our R&D design team and our microfabrication/production team. You will build custom robotic test-beds, automate metrology and data acquisition, maintain the readout electronics and firmware we test with, and support the production team with robotic tooling. We are looking for a multidisciplinary engineer with signals and mechatronics skills (MCAD, software, electronics) who can design new test systems to measure sensor behavior, and tie critical performance metrics back to design decisions to streamline our R&D loop. If you are a hands-on engineer who loves breaking down complex systems and building the tools you need to do it, we want to talk to you.

How we build

We believe that having the right tool for the job empowers the team to move faster. However, most of the equipment we need can’t be bought off the shelf, so we invest heavily in building custom equipment. This has to be balanced with deep pragmatism. Some questions call for a robotic rig with machine vision, and others are best answered by soldering a few leads onto a board and getting the data out the same afternoon. We are looking for someone with the technical maturity and judgement to tell the difference.

What you'll do

Measurement and automation setups (about 50%)

• Design, build, and automate our metrology and characterization setups, including mechanical and electrical characterization. These combine fixtures, motorized stages, cameras, and readout electronics.
• Write the Python that runs them: instrument control, motion control, and machine vision.
• Debug and improve the analog front end and microcontroller firmware on our sensor readout electronics, and bring up new test boards.

Characterization and analysis (about 35%)

• Develop test plans and acceptance criteria for new sensor designs and process changes.
• Characterize capacitance, impedance, noise, and drift. Build the filtering and calibration that turn raw readings into bend and force, from frequency-domain to Kalman filters.
• Find why devices fail, trace the cause to design, fabrication, or packaging, and feed what you learn into the next design.

Production tooling (about 15%)

• As our automation expert, help the production team automate and improve its tooling, such as our robotic pick-and-place machines. 
• Design jigs and fixtures that make production steps faster and more repeatable.

What we're looking for

• Education: Master's (preferred), or Bachelor's (with 3+ years relevant work experience) in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.
• Builder: You have designed and built automated test or measurement setups that combine mechanics, electronics, and software, at work or in a research lab.
• Mechatronics: Hands-on experience with several of the following: motion control (steppers, servos, encoders, motorized stages), machine vision, test instrumentation, and CAD for fixtures.
• Electronics: You understand analog circuits and front ends (amplifiers, filters, noise) and instrumentation (e.g. LCR meter, potentiostat) well enough to set up a measurement and know when to trust it. You can read and change C/C++ microcontroller firmware.
• Signal processing: You understand frequency-domain filtering and can apply it to process sensor data.
• Software: You write Python to control instruments and analyze data, and you use Git.

Even if you don't check every box, please apply.

Nice to have

• MEMS, sensor, or semiconductor characterization.
• Design of experiments and statistics.
• PCB design for test boards and breakout boards.
• Medical device or microdevice assembly.
• Familiarity with state estimation, such as Kalman filters.

What success looks like

• In 2 weeks: You have characterized a batch of devices on our existing setups and reported what you found. Your first fixture or setup change is in use.
• In 2 months: The team brings you its measurement and automation problems. You are able to go from request to first data in days, and build an automated setup in one to two weeks if it is warranted.
• In 6 months: Our core characterization runs on setups you built or improved, and the team uses your acceptance criteria to pass or fail devices. Production uses tooling you helped automate.

What we value

• Curiosity: When something looks off, dig until you find the cause.
• Care: Take pride in the work and don't cut corners. These sensors are built for devices that go into patients.
• Pragmatism: Build the simplest thing that answers the question, then improve it.
• Agency: Priorities shift fast on a team of seven. Pick up what's in front of you and see it through.
• Clarity: Explain what you saw, what you think caused it, and what you'd try next.

Why you'll like it here

• Tools: You will get the budget and authority to buy the equipment and software you want. We encourage use of AI to accelerate engineering work.
• In-house R&D: Our own R&D lab, including SLA and FDM 3D printers, CNC, pick-and-place, probe station, fume hood, silicone injection molding, and custom metrology equipment.
• Team: You will work daily with expert engineers in MEMS and microfabrication.
• Solve a problem that matters: We are on a mission to improve patients' lives. Your work will have a direct and tangible impact on healthcare outcomes.
• Benefits: Early-employee equity, health insurance, and unlimited PTO.