Product Test Developer I

Since 2003, SparkFun has been helping turn ideas into reality – whether you’re creating a smart weather station, exploring the frontier of machine learning, building a robot for school or prototyping your first (or tenth) product. No matter your vision or skill level, our open source components, resources and online tutorials are designed to broaden access to innovative technology and make the road to a finished project shorter.

We are an equal opportunity employer that values a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. SparkFun offers an abundance of opportunities to learn new skills from other Funions, in addition to many other benefits and perks.

SparkFun's Engineering Department is responsible for the elaboration, design and development of SparkFun’s original products. This includes microprocessor boards, sensor system breakout boards and everything in-between. In our web-store, if the PCB is red, it was produced by the SparkFun Engineering team.

The Engineering department focuses on team collaboration and success, developing users centered products in a highly cooperative, communicative and transparent manner.

Open Source and its associated community are key values for SparkFun, and a key part of all our software efforts. All embedded software is open source and community driven. SparkFun developed technology is given back to the community through updates or complete open source projects.

If you like the sound of our Engineering team and want to hack on the software that powers our embedded products, this team is your home.

SparkFun is looking for a Test Developer to help keep production ready to produce any currently live assemblies or new products coming down the pipeline from Engineering. This will include critical design review of new prototypes, and the designing of test procedures necessary for production. The developer will work closely with the engineering team to ensure the product is buildable and testable. The developer will focus on creating robust, reliable, user-friendly solutions designed around best practices, but also incorporating new ideas as necessary. The developer will also contribute to finding solutions to any issues that arise on the production floor related to quality and/or testing. This includes larger issues that may involve a product revision, pasting, reflow, cleaning, and smaller more immediate issues that arise for a technician with their testing equipment or computer.

The ideal candidate will need to be comfortable in Arduino and EAGLE as well as working with a soldering iron for very precise hand population of PTH and SMD assemblies - as all of our testbeds are build by hand. They will also need to have a calm demeanor capable of balancing lots of high priority projects simultaneously. Self learning and creativity is very crucial in this position, because many of the products involve new technologies and require innovative testing solutions (both in hardware and software).

• Create test procedures and design new testing equipment as needed for product development, adhering to existing standards for testing methodology.
• Provide feedback to Engineering on DFM, DFT, and product usability at the prototyping phase and before the design is cleared for production.
• Update design, maintain, and repair, as needed, Testing Hardware and Software for Contract Manufacturers. Provide Technical Assistance to CMs when requested.
• Review designs using the Engineering Design Rule Checklist and work with the assigned Engineer to modify the design as needed.
• Collaborate with other Product Test Devs on design reviews: participate in peer review, provide feedback, and anticipate any potential problem areas or potential errors.
• Attend small group reviews for assigned products.
• Organize and maintain all quality control SOPs necessary for assembly and production, including but not limited to product firmware, test jig design files, test code, and test procedure documentation.
• Collaborate with Production to troubleshoot issues that arise with testing equipment
• Develop a thorough understanding of SparkFun’s product catalog and of each product’s associated assembly process and test procedure.
• Maintain and repair testing development tools, production testing equipment, including but not limited to laser cutter, test jigs, and providing maintenance to Production Tech’s computers.

• A basic understanding of general electrical engineering and embedded electronics design, specifically Ohm’s law, voltage dividers, and transistors among others.
• Experience with KiCad PCB layout software.
• Experience with Arduino programming language, specifically the installation and use of libraries.
• General knowledge of Windows 10, driver installation, and various software applications including AVR Studio, the Arduino IDE and various terminal programs.
• Experience working with modern version control systems such as Git and use of GitHub
• A functional understanding of Windows batch files
• A functional understanding of Python programming language.
• Comfortable setting up and using Linux OS (Raspberry Pi) and using it in various ways to control/augment testing methods.

Additional Qualifications (not Required)

• Communication and collaboration skills
• Writing skills for creating clear, concise written documentation for test procedures
• Ability to quickly problem solve with a keen attention to detail, focused on efficiency and quality
• Experience with time management and project prioritization
• Self motivation and an ongoing drive to learn on the job
• Creativity and a willingness to try new, innovative methods.

At SparkFun, we ask a lot of our employees, and that’s why we give so much in return. Here are just some of the benefits:

• Competitive salary ($20-25/hour)
• Medical/dental/vision plan
• Matching 401(k),
• A casual dress code for you
• Dogs - yes, we bring dogs to work
• Full gym with climbing wall. If that’s not your style we offer a monthly gym stipend or onsite yoga
• We have a great employee discount and opportunities to create and share content with the SparkFun community
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid time to volunteer
• EcoPass (public transportation pass)
• Flexible paid time off
• Summer BBQs, work parties, and more!