Senior Electronics Engineer

Join Smartbox and make a meaningful impact as our newest team member! Are you a passionate Senior Electronics Engineer who wants to play a part in creating technology that gives a voice to those without speech? Smartbox is seeking a dedicated and talented individual like you to join our team and make a real difference in the lives of people with disabilities.

At Smartbox, we take pride in being a leading company in assistive communication technology. Our innovative products, combining specialised hardware, advanced software, and engaging content, are used by individuals with diverse needs worldwide. All around the world, our products, accomplishments, and aspirations reflect our teams’ values: passionate, caring, empowering, achieving together, and enabling change.

How will you be making a difference?

• Technical Delivery & Leadership: Lead complex, multi‑disciplinary electronics projects, balancing scope, time, cost, quality and risk while supporting informed trade‑off decisions and coordinating contributors as needed.
• System Architecture & Lifecycle: Define and maintain robust, portable electronic platforms and subsystems with long-term lifecycle focus.
• Subsystem Ownership: Own the strategy, architecture and lifecycle of key subsystems including audio/acoustics, embedded controllers, thermal solutions, HMIs, infrared and sensor systems.
• Electronics & PCB Design: Deliver end‑to‑end circuit design, schematic capture and analysis. Guide and review PCB layouts to ensure signal integrity, EMC, reliability and manufacturability.
• Firmware Collaboration: Contribute hands‑on to embedded firmware development and code reviews alongside Firmware Engineers, ensuring designs are robust, testable and maintainable.
• Test, Verification & Validation: Champion testable design and automated testing, supporting CI where appropriate. Lead verification and validation activities through lab testing, user trials and real‑world use.
• Quality & Compliance: Act as a subject matter expert for medical electrical safety and EMC standards (IEC 60601‑1 / 60601‑1‑2). Own timely investigation and resolution of quality issues.
• Risk Management: Perform DFMEAs and risk assessments in line with ISO 14971, implementing controls and providing verification evidence.
• Manufacturing Handover: Create accurate, version‑controlled BOMs and manufacturing data packs. Support production, service and repair teams with training and clear quality measures.
• Suppliers & Stakeholders: Build strong supplier partnerships and collaborate closely with Quality, Production, Eye Tracking and Repairs to improve reliability, serviceability and cost.
• Technology Strategy & Mentoring: Contribute to technology scouting and feasibility studies. Mentor engineers and support a positive, high‑performing engineering culture.

Essential qualifications/skills/experience

• A collaborative and supportive team player: prioritising team success above individual recognition, contributing actively to shared goals and supporting colleagues across disciplines.
• Broad hardware subsystem expertise: experienced in developing audio/acoustics, embedded controller, thermal, HMI, infrared, sensor and hardware/firmware interface.
• Practical, proactive mindset: comfortable taking initiative, working through ambiguity, and driving work forward in a fast-moving team without waiting to be told what to do.
• Clear, evidence-based communicator: explains complex technical topics in a structured, accessible and concise way to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, adapting style to the audience.
• Experience in accessibility, AAC or assistive technology domains: familiarity with user needs, environments and constraints common in AAC or related assistive technologies.
• Strong attention to detail in documentation: confident in producing clear design documentation, keeping BOMs accurate and version-controlled, using git effectively, and preparing for design and code reviews.
• Deep electronics design expertise: strong fundamentals in digital, analogue and power electronics, comfortable making architecture and component trade-offs to meet performance, reliability and cost goals.
• Circuit and PCB design capability: experienced in schematic capture, layout constraints, DFM/DFA principles and reviewing PCB layouts for signal integrity, EMC, reliability and manufacturability.
• Embedded firmware development (Zephyr RTOS): significant experience developing C/C++ firmware on Zephyr RTOS for modern microcontrollers (e.g. Nordic and STM32), including board bring-up, drivers and hardware abstraction layers.
• Test strategy, automation and CI mindset: hands-on experience designing testable firmware and hardware, building unit/component tests, and using CI or similar automation to catch regressions early.
• Standards and compliance literacy: working knowledge of safety and EMC standards such as IEC 60601-1 and IEC 60601-1-2, and how design, documentation and verification evidence support regulatory submissions.
• Risk management in engineering: practical experience with DFMEA / risk assessments, defining mitigations and controls, and generating verification and validation evidence in line with ISO 14971 or similar processes.
• Supplier and manufacturing collaboration: able to work constructively with manufacturing partners and key suppliers, resolving issues quickly and feeding their feedback into design decisions.

Useful Qualifications/skills/experience

• A passion for improving lives through assistive technology: genuinely motivated by empowering disabled people to communicate and live more independently.
• Commercial and product mindset: comfortable considering margin, cost of goods, ROI and market positioning when making technical decisions, and able to explain trade-offs in those terms.
• Broader compliance and regulatory expertise: familiarity with additional regulatory domains (e.g. FCC, CE, RoHS, REACH) and how they influence hardware and firmware design choices.
• Business and roadmap awareness: able to connect technical choices to product strategy, roadmap dependencies, and long-term platform decisions across Smartbox’s portfolio.
• Awareness of CPU/platform roadmaps (e.g. Intel and Arm): keeps up to date with key developments in Intel and Arm-based platforms, and can factor future availability, performance and lifecycle into architecture choices.
• PCB manufacturing and supply-chain awareness: understanding of PCB fabrication and assembly processes, test strategies and common failure modes, and how global supply constraints affect component and design choices.

Additional information:

• We work in a hybrid way, so you’ll have the flexibility to split your time between home and our Malvern or Bristol offices. You’ll need to be in the Bristol office at least three days a week to stay connected with the team and collaborate in person.
• You will gain in-depth knowledge of our products and see first-hand the impact they have on empowering people every day.
• You will have the opportunity to collaborate with teams across the business and contribute to shared goals.

Rewards and benefits
Discover a world of rewards and benefits tailored to your wellbeing at Smartbox. Alongside a competitive salary and private medical insurance, we offer hybrid working, wellbeing benefits and paid volunteering days. Learn more at Apply through our website.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable environment where every individual is valued and respected. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and a Founding Partner of Purple Tuesday. Our recruitment practices are designed to be as barrier‑free as possible, with adjustments available throughout the application process and your career.