Hardware Design and Test Engineer - Board

Who we are

Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America’s drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.

As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We’re hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.

What you will be doing

As a Board-Focused Hardware Test & Design Engineer at Neros, you will own the hardware architecture and implementation of manufacturing test solutions used to validate PCBAs and electronic assemblies from prototype builds through high-volume production. This role bridges product design, manufacturing, and test engineering by developing scalable, high-coverage board-level test systems that improve product quality, accelerate root-cause analysis, and enable efficient production ramping.

• Design and develop board-level manufacturing test hardware, including bed-of-nails and custom fixturing solutions for PCBA validation and production testing

• Partner with electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering teams to influence product designs for testability (DFT), ensuring adequate test access, coverage, and fault isolation

• Define board-level test strategies spanning ICT, functional test, programming, calibration, and metrology systems across development and production stages

• Own hardware design for manufacturing test equipment, including fixture electronics, interface boards, signal conditioning, switching architectures, and measurement systems

• Collaborate with contract manufacturers and internal production teams to deploy, qualify, and sustain test solutions at vendor sites and Neros headquarters

• Analyze test coverage, yield performance, and failure trends to drive continuous improvements in test effectiveness, throughput, reliability, and overall manufacturing quality

You should have the following

• 5+ years of experience in electrical engineering, manufacturing test engineering, hardware validation, or product test development, with ownership of board-level and system-level test solutions from prototype through high-volume production

• Proven experience developing and deploying PCBA manufacturing test strategies, including ICT, bed-of-nails, flying probe, boundary scan (JTAG), functional test, programming, calibration, and end-of-line validation

• Strong understanding of electronic circuit design, schematic review, signal integrity, power distribution, analog and digital interfaces, and failure analysis techniques

• Experience driving Design for Testability (DFT) requirements with hardware design teams, including test point strategy, coverage analysis, debug access, programming interfaces, and manufacturing readiness reviews

• Hands-on experience designing and debugging custom test fixtures, interface boards, switching architectures, and automated test hardware using conductive, bed-of-nails, or hybrid test methodologies

• Proficiency with lab equipment and measurement systems including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, spectrum analyzers, DMMs, electronic loads, and environmental test equipment

• Experience supporting production of complex electromechanical systems such as drones, autonomous vehicles, robotics, aerospace, defense systems, ground control stations, radios, sensors, or other mission-critical products

• Strong root-cause analysis and data-driven problem-solving skills with experience using manufacturing and quality metrics such as FPY, yield, test coverage, GR&R, Cpk, defect paretos, and station uptime to drive continuous improvement

• Familiarity with automated test software architectures and integration with manufacturing systems, including Python-based test frameworks, data collection, traceability systems, MES platforms, and test result databases

• Ability to work cross-functionally with Electrical Engineering, Firmware, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Contract Manufacturing partners to deploy scalable, reliable test solutions across both Neros and supplier production site

Nice to Have

• Experience developing manufacturing test solutions for consumer, automotive or autonomous products operating in harsh environments

• Familiarity with RF systems and testing, including radios, telemetry links, antennas, GPS/GNSS, EW-resilient communications, spectrum analysis, and wireless performance validation

• Experience with high-speed digital interfaces such as PCIe, USB, Ethernet, CAN, SPI, I2C, or MIPI architectures and their associated test methodologies

US Salary Range

$112,500 – $157,500 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.