Test Equipment Engineer

Our Mission

At SPAN, we are building products to drive the rapid adoption of renewable energy by designing the infrastructure for a distributed, renewable grid. Our smart panel reinvents home electrical systems as part of the distributed grid and makes user-friendly renewable energy at the center of the smart home, presenting intelligent load-balancing and revolutionary edge-of-grid controls to homeowners through the Span mobile app.

The Role

SPAN’s Systems Engineering team is a cross-functional team that supports the Span engineering organization across the board. We are responsible for SPAN’s lab space and physical test infrastructure, run hardware and software tests and create hardware and software for automated testing. As part of Systems Engineering, you’ll get to work with teams across the company, and will get to work with a high degree of autonomy and ownership.

As a Test Equipment Engineer at Span, you will be a key contributor to the success and reliability of Span products. You'll work closely with our manufacturing, mechanical, software, and electrical teams to design and build new test fixtures, support existing fixtures, and continuously improve test coverage, operator experience, and reliability. Your wide range of technical skills will help you understand the entire product and test stack, while your communication and documentation skills will help you join multi-disciplinary teams to successfully investigate and resolve issues.

While this role will be focused primarily on the technical implementation side of product testing, you will also work closely with manufacturing test engineers to ensure test requirements are met and quality processes are followed at all times. Your attention to detail, conversational skills, and openness to feedback will ensure that issues in manufacturing are correctly prioritized and tracked until resolution.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Participate in concept, planning, and design of electrical and mechanical test fixtures
• Build and validate fixtures including mechanical assembly, electrical wiring, automation equipment, and computer control
• Develop test scripting code in Python to resolve issues and bring up new fixtures
• Coordinate deployment of new fixtures or upgrades, manage couriers to and from manufacturing site for heavy equipment
• Work directly with manufacturing test operators to diagnose and resolve issues remotely or on-site if necessary
• Track all deployed test equipment, manage a preventive maintenance schedule and spares stock
• Monitor production and continuously improve fixtures and coverage
• Work with external vendors and contractors for equipment purchases and custom fabrication

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer science, or related field
• 3+ years of experience in a fast-paced engineering development environment
• Proficient in Linux system operation (shell scripting, setting up new systems, etc)
• Proficient in understanding and writing Python code
• Proficient in basic electrical theory and understanding/drawing electrical circuits
• Comfortable understanding, drawing, and building from mechanical designs
• Ability to operate and maintain a wide variety of hand and power tools, shop tools, and lab equipment
• Experience with electrical assembly (wiring, soldering, DIN rail terminals, connectors)
• Experience with electrical test equipment (power supplies, power analyzers, oscilloscopes, etc)
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills
• A hacker’s instinct for making things work
• Local Bay Area candidate (some in-office work will be required)

Bonus Qualifications

• Ability to read and develop C source code for embedded systems
• Familiarity with database access, simple web development, accessing APIs
• Experience with home electrical wiring
• Experience with industrial electrical systems, control panels, safety interlocks, and guarding
• Experience with test-related hardware (sensors, data acquisition, pogo pin fixtures)
• Experience using 3D CAD and rapid prototyping tools

Life at SPAN

Why SPAN?

Span offers a unique opportunity at a startup based in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco. We are a small, diverse team of creative thinkers. We value open communication, teamwork, and a make-it-happen attitude - no job is too big or too small. We strive to make change by imagining what the future could be and building a product to complete that vision. We are looking to grow our team with talented people who are on the same mission to shape the future of energy.

Working at Span, you can expect:

• Competitive compensation and early equity at a well-funded, fast-growing, venture-backed company (read more on why Amazon and others invested in SPAN here and here)
• A sunny 20,000 sq ft hardware lab + office space in SOMA, a stone’s throw from Caltrain and close to BART
• Flexible hours and vacation time - we simultaneously work hard and make space for the important stuff
• Additional Span holidays in celebration of causes we believe in (this year so far we provided days off in celebration of Black History in Feb, Women’s History in March, Earth Day in April and Gay Pride & Juneteenth in June) 
• Comprehensive benefits including a choice of medical plans; dental, vision, life and disability insurance
• Diversity - we are serious about this. Span embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.