Electrical Engineering Manager

Description

Whisker is the maker of Litter-Robot, Feeder-Robot, and Litterbox.com. At Whisker, we believe pet parenthood can always get better.

As leading innovators in pet tech and refined pet accessories, we work tirelessly to solve problems and deliver smarter insights for pet parents while enriching the lives of pets. Whether it’s a self-cleaning litter box that automates scooping, an automatic feeder that helps pets develop healthier eating habits, or a modern cat tree that delights both humans and felines, we strive to deliver better solutions for consumers while transforming pet care along the way. To us, having a pet is the best thing ever. At Whisker, life together just keeps getting better.

Whisker is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan and Juneau, Wisconsin with 600+ passionate team members.

What You’ll Do:

The Manager of Electrical Engineering is responsible for leading the Whisker team of Electrical Engineers and others in designing, developing, and launching the next generation of connected pet products. The Manager of Electrical Engineering will utilize technical expertise in high-speed digital interfaces, communication technologies, system level integration, analog power systems, illumination, user interface, sensors (gyroscope, accelerometer, proximity detection) and motors to drive design decisions to help build scalable systems across a variety of products. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as deemed necessary.

• Assesses, Develops and grows Electrical team to support multi-project, concurrent development.
• Utilizes organizational management to define structured best practices and New Product Development lifecycle.
• Responsible for both people management (development, coaching) and project escalation for projects in the Electrical Engineering domain.
• Conducts design reviews. 
• Develop design verification specifications.
• Collaborates with firmware engineers
  • designs validation
  • provides breadboards for early software functionality confirmation.
• Assists as needed on all designs and enables scaled solutions through the use of reference platforms and tools.
• Ensures a quality design that is optimized for performance and cost.
• Ensures that programs are adequately resourced (both staffing and skills required) for electrical engineering activities.
• Builds, develops and maintains strong performing teams. 
• Ensures the team is trained and skilled in using standard methodology, tools, and processes.
• Oversees, evaluates and assists in the design of electrical circuits and systems from concept to product: including ideation, project timing, schematic design and layout, prototype build, test fixturing, and production oversight
• Manages and recommends professional training (informal and formal) where needs arise.
• Will perform additional responsibilities when required. 

Leadership Responsibilities:

Directly supervises department Teams. Carries out supervisory responsibilities following Whisker policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, training, and hiring, planning, assigning and directing work, appraising performance, addressing team issues, and upholding safety and quality guidelines.  This leader will help communicate shared vision on scaled electronics systems for current and future enablement of technology.  Understanding and building development plans around program timelines for electronic systems is the responsibility of this leader.

Requirements

What You’ll Bring:

• BS in Electrical / Electronic Engineering
• 8+ Years Embedded Experience
• 3+ Years of experience leading a team of engineers
• Experience with IoT Consumer Product Design 
• Experience with high volume product design and development
• Understanding of Embedded Systems at a very low-level
• Understanding of Low-Level Hardware (discreet, inexpensive sensors)
• Understanding of Low-Level Software (bare metal on MCU, CPU registers)
• Understanding of digital and analog components and circuits
• Understanding of networks (UART, I2C, SPI, BLE, WIFI)
• Experience with PCB CAD (Schematic, PCB Layout, and Trace Routing)
• Experience with Power Supplies, Meters, Oscilloscopes and Signal Generators
• Experience with soldering and basic electronic hand tools
• Maintains confidentiality of proprietary information
• Experience in developing test methodologies for validation and reliability
• Ability to maintain a professional atmosphe