Electrical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics

OpenAI, San Francisco

The role

We are seeking an Electrical Engineer for a senior individual-contributor role leading printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) test infrastructure for advanced robotic systems. You will independently turn evolving requirements into working test stations, make technical tradeoffs, and own delivery from architecture and circuit design through validation, deployment, and reliable operation.

This role combines development-lab work with deployment at contract manufacturers. You will develop electrical test systems for board bring-up, programming, functional test, and characterization, partnering with mechanical, firmware, software, manufacturing, and reliability teams to carry validated stations from prototypes into repeat builds.

All jobs

Electrical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics

OpenAI, San Francisco

Posted pay

$318K–$485K

a year

Compared with similar jobs

This base pay is above the median for hardware and robotics jobs in the Bay Area with no level in the job title.

Median: $174K a year
Other jobs in the group: 542

We compare the middle of each posted range. This is base pay as posted. The group does not include this job.

Location: San Francisco
Work type: Onsite
Level: Not given
Skills in the job text: Python
PCB design
Posted: 20 days ago
Last check: 6 h ago
Job type: Hardware and robotics

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OpenAI

Open tech jobs: 424
With posted pay: 90%
Median posted base: $266K–$414K

About OpenAI: funding, hiring and pay

OpenAI

About OpenAI: funding, hiring and pay

Company facts

Money raised: $51.3BSum of funding rounds on record
Newest round: Funding roundMar 31, 2025

Funding records can have errors and can be missing. The company page has the links.

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The role

What you will do

In this role, you will

Own PCBA test-station architecture, including device-under-test interfaces, programmable power, electronic loads, signal routing, instrumentation, and protection.
Translate board requirements and likely failure modes into test coverage, measurement methods, and pass/fail criteria. Partner with board designers on design for test, test-point access, programming interfaces, and diagnostics.
Design and bring up fixture interface boards, switching circuits, harnesses, and connectors. Release schematics, PCB layouts, wiring diagrams, bills of materials, and interface definitions.
Integrate oscilloscopes, meters, power supplies, loads, and data acquisition hardware; validate calibration, timing, accuracy, and repeatability across stations and board revisions.
Develop and debug programming and communications interfaces such as JTAG/SWD, UART, SPI, I²C, CAN, and Ethernet as required by the board. Diagnose power, signal-integrity, grounding, and contact problems.
Design and validate current limiting, power sequencing, ESD protection, interlocks, and fault recovery appropriate to the hardware under test.
Partner with mechanical engineers on probe access, connector mating, board support, cooling, and serviceability. Work with firmware and software partners to define interfaces and integrate test stations with shared software.
Write, debug, and maintain test code for instrument control, board programming, automated sequences, diagnostics, and result logging. Collaborate with software partners on reusable frameworks, code reviews, and reliable releases.
Establish station commissioning, calibration, maintenance, and configuration control. Track board identity and revision, firmware version, test limits, and station configuration with each result.
Use reference boards, independent measurements, and deliberate fault checks to distinguish board failures from fixture or software errors. Improve test coverage, false-failure rate, cycle time, and station uptime.
Own test-station deployment and acceptance at contract manufacturers, including station correlation, build support, operator training, and troubleshooting. Release configurations and documentation that keep lab and factory results consistent.

What success looks like

Commission a reusable PCBA test station with documented coverage, acceptance criteria, and traceable results; deploy and validate a reproducible configuration at a contract manufacturer.
Demonstrate measurement repeatability and intended fault detection using reference boards, independent measurements, and known-fault cases. Track false failures, cycle time, and uptime against agreed improvement targets.
Release hardware documentation, versioned test code, commissioning checks, and troubleshooting procedures that enable lab and contract-manufacturer teams to reproduce, operate, and maintain the station

Electrical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics

The role

Electrical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics

The role

The team

What you will do

In this role, you will

What success looks like

What you need

You might thrive in this role if you

Required qualifications

Nice to have

About OpenAI

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OpenAI

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