Electrical Engineering Manager

Engage. Inspire. Prepare. ™

Who We Are

Sphero engages students with high quality hands-on STEM, robotics, and CTE solutions. Our accessible classroom learning and competition offerings build skills and confidence in the classroom and beyond. Together with educators, we inspire and prepare the next generation of problem solvers and innovators.

What You'll Do

We're looking for an experienced Electrical Engineering Manager to join the Sphero Engineering Team. This is a player-coach role: you'll manage and grow a small team of electrical engineers while serving as the senior electrical engineer on most projects - owning designs yourself, not just reviewing them. You'll partner closely with engineering and product teams to guide Sphero's world-class products from concept through production.

You’ll work daily with an ultra-creative group whose sole purpose is to develop products that deliver joyful, educational moments to our customers' lives, covering completely new ground for technical problem solving in the education space. You’ll also have true cradle-to-grave ownership of a product's electrical design, and of the team that makes it happen.

Responsibilities:

Hands-On Electrical Engineering

• Lead collaboration across engineering, product, design, and manufacturing teams to see products from initial concept through production.
• Translate product requirements into electrical specifications, designs, and PCB layouts, confirming architectural decisions through prototyping and simulation.
• Understand and articulate technical risk and design margin throughout the development process.
• Conduct cross-functional design reviews and ensure corrective actions are taken.
• Assist with development and specification of test fixtures, working directly with manufacturers to ensure high-quality production.
• Lead and oversee electrical certification testing.
• Participate in onsite pre-certification.
• Sustaining engineering on existing products.

Team Leadership

• Manage and develop direct reports, including goal-setting, performance reviews, and career growth.
• Set technical direction and priorities for the electrical engineering team, balancing workload across projects.
• Partner with product management and cross-discipline engineering leads (firmware, mechanical, software) to align requirements, schedules, and risks.
• Grow the team's capabilities through mentorship, design guidance, and technical review.
• Domestic and international travel (Asia) is likely, one to two times per year.

Requirements:

• 8–12 years in electronics engineering.
• 2+ years leading or managing engineers (direct reports or a formal tech lead role).
• Experience building an embedded system product that shipped, including schematic design and PCB layout.
• Experience designing in Altium.
• Experience in consumer product development using overseas manufacturing; children's or consumer products (toys, edtech, or similar) is a plus.
• Experience working directly with external partners (vendors, manufacturers, FAEs). 
• Experience designing for manufacturability, ESD/EMC immunity, and certification standards (e.g., FCC Part 15B); children’s safety standards (e.g., ASTM F963, EN 71) is a plus.
• Experience designing wireless communication, especially Bluetooth.
• Experience designing batteries and charging systems, motors, and sensors.
• Proven track record collaborating across product, firmware, mechanical, and manufacturing teams.
• Ability to hand solder and rework boards, including small 0402 surface-mount and through-hole components.
• Able to work effectively in a remote environment, including managing remote team members.
• Must be able to travel to our Texas warehouse location for the first two days of employment to participate in new hire onboarding (company-paid travel provided).
• Must reside in and be authorized to work in the United States.

A Day in the Life

• Spring out of bed knowing that you get to support kids' learning today!
• Check your calendar for the day’s agenda.
• While sipping on a warm beverage, start going through emails and slacks to ensure you have reviewed all the project updates and answered all the questions from the evening before. 
• Check in with Hong Kong team to answer factory questions and address manufacturing needs.
• Post your daily update and focus items for the day in Slack.
• Meet up with your team to discuss design, debugging, and dreaming about solutions. 
• Respectfully debate technical solutions with engineers and other team members.
• Throughout the day, check Slack for messages and respond as appropriate.
• Take a brief walk in the sunshine to find a bench to sit on and eat your sandwich lunch.
• Tackle the open items:
  • Debug and discuss problems as they arise.
  • Research component sourcing and specification.
  • Work on architectural designs, schematics, and layouts, sometimes alone and sometimes with someone else.
  • Participate in and lead design reviews.
• Close to dinner time! Connect with the team to communicate any questions or updates you may have (you are encouraged to do this throughout the day).
• Occasionally, meet with our Hong Kong team in the evening to discuss updates and design solutions.
• Sign off to spend time doing what makes you happy! Balance is important.

This is your opportunity to create a lasting impact on the world of STEM, robotics, and Career & Technical Education with an inspired, dynamic, and innovative team. If you have unique talents that support our mission, send your resume our way.

Compensation: The salary range for this position is $130,000 - $150,000 annually. Final compensation for this role will be determined by various factors such as a candidate’s relevant work experience, skills, and certifications.

Benefits (Health benefits available the 1st of the month following your start date): Sphero offers a 100% paid medical plan (buy-up plan available); dental and vision insurance; short-term & long-term disability, life insurance, AD&D insurance, FSA, HSA + Employer contribution (with HDHP medical plan), 401(k) plan + Employer match, stock options, unlimited PTO, 4-day work weeks, two paid week-long company shutdowns per year, ability to work remotely full-time, paid parental leave, education reimbursement, fitness benefit, and a technology benefit.

We encourage and welcome applicants with any and all backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and competencies. All hiring, promotion, discipline, and discharge decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We are an equal-opportunity employer.

The anticipated application deadline for this position is September 1, 2026.