Electrical Engineer for Schematic Design Review — KiCad, Embedded Carrier, Power & Mains-Switching Boards
Budget / Salary$1,500–3,000
TypeFreelance project
LocationRemote
Posted2 hours ago
Overview:
Qgen Engineering is a US-based hardware and software company. We're looking for an experienced electrical engineer to perform an independent design review of four board designs before we commit to fabrication and volume builds. This is a review engagement — no layout, firmware, or redesign work required.
Boards in scope:
- Carrier board — carrier for a commercial ARM SODIMM compute module (TI AM62P-class, 1.8V-only I/O domain). Includes a MIPI-DSI display interface with capacitive touch, switched peripheral rails, Ethernet, USB, RS-485, I2C peripherals, PWM/tach fan control, and a JTAG/UART debug header. 24V input.
- Power board — system power input and distribution.
- Sub control board — a control board driving inductive and high-voltage loads from multiple switching regulators, plus its companion sensor board.
- Light board — two independent control circuits: a relay stage switching a 110–240 VAC ballast that drives four UV bulbs, and a constant-current driver for a single full-spectrum LED strip.
What we want from the review:
- Power tree verification: rail sequencing, current budgets, feedback dividers, UVLO/EN thresholds, component derating and thermals
- Mains safety on the light board: creepage and clearance, isolation barriers between the mains relay stage and low-voltage control, relay contact rating and inrush margin against a ballast load, snubbing, fusing, earth/PE handling, and any gaps that would fail an IEC 60335 / 61010-class assessment
- Correct application of each IC per its datasheet — pin strapping, decoupling, compensation networks, unused-pin handling
- Protection and robustness: inrush, TVS/ESD placement, reverse polarity, flyback/freewheeling paths on inductive loads
- Signal integrity concerns visible at the schematic level: differential pair definitions, termination, level shifting, I2C pull-up sizing, reset and boot strapping
- Connector pinouts and mating-side sanity checks, including board-to-board interfaces between the boards above
- Reference-design deviations and whether they're justified
- BOM risks: lifecycle, second sources, obviously wrong values
Deliverables:
- A written report per board with findings ranked Critical / Major / Minor / Nitpick, each tied to a specific reference designator or net and with a recommended fix
- One follow-up call (60–90 min) to walk through findings and answer questions
- Optional: a second pass after we implement corrections
Requirements:
- 7+ years of professional schematic design on production hardware
- Demonstrated experience with switching power supplies and SoC/SOM carrier boards
- Experience with line-voltage (110–240 VAC) switching circuits and the safety spacing rules that go with them
- Ability to read KiCad projects natively (KiCad 8 or 9). PDF-only review is acceptable if you prefer, but native is better
- Clear written English and the willingness to say "this is wrong" plainly
Nice to have:
- TI AM62x/AM62P or Toradex Verdin carrier design experience
- MIPI-DSI display integration
- Ballast, lamp driver, or LED driver design experience
- Familiarity with IEC/UL safety requirements for mains-connected equipment
- DFM/DFT background
Qgen Engineering is a US-based hardware and software company. We're looking for an experienced electrical engineer to perform an independent design review of four board designs before we commit to fabrication and volume builds. This is a review engagement — no layout, firmware, or redesign work required.
Boards in scope:
- Carrier board — carrier for a commercial ARM SODIMM compute module (TI AM62P-class, 1.8V-only I/O domain). Includes a MIPI-DSI display interface with capacitive touch, switched peripheral rails, Ethernet, USB, RS-485, I2C peripherals, PWM/tach fan control, and a JTAG/UART debug header. 24V input.
- Power board — system power input and distribution.
- Sub control board — a control board driving inductive and high-voltage loads from multiple switching regulators, plus its companion sensor board.
- Light board — two independent control circuits: a relay stage switching a 110–240 VAC ballast that drives four UV bulbs, and a constant-current driver for a single full-spectrum LED strip.
What we want from the review:
- Power tree verification: rail sequencing, current budgets, feedback dividers, UVLO/EN thresholds, component derating and thermals
- Mains safety on the light board: creepage and clearance, isolation barriers between the mains relay stage and low-voltage control, relay contact rating and inrush margin against a ballast load, snubbing, fusing, earth/PE handling, and any gaps that would fail an IEC 60335 / 61010-class assessment
- Correct application of each IC per its datasheet — pin strapping, decoupling, compensation networks, unused-pin handling
- Protection and robustness: inrush, TVS/ESD placement, reverse polarity, flyback/freewheeling paths on inductive loads
- Signal integrity concerns visible at the schematic level: differential pair definitions, termination, level shifting, I2C pull-up sizing, reset and boot strapping
- Connector pinouts and mating-side sanity checks, including board-to-board interfaces between the boards above
- Reference-design deviations and whether they're justified
- BOM risks: lifecycle, second sources, obviously wrong values
Deliverables:
- A written report per board with findings ranked Critical / Major / Minor / Nitpick, each tied to a specific reference designator or net and with a recommended fix
- One follow-up call (60–90 min) to walk through findings and answer questions
- Optional: a second pass after we implement corrections
Requirements:
- 7+ years of professional schematic design on production hardware
- Demonstrated experience with switching power supplies and SoC/SOM carrier boards
- Experience with line-voltage (110–240 VAC) switching circuits and the safety spacing rules that go with them
- Ability to read KiCad projects natively (KiCad 8 or 9). PDF-only review is acceptable if you prefer, but native is better
- Clear written English and the willingness to say "this is wrong" plainly
Nice to have:
- TI AM62x/AM62P or Toradex Verdin carrier design experience
- MIPI-DSI display integration
- Ballast, lamp driver, or LED driver design experience
- Familiarity with IEC/UL safety requirements for mains-connected equipment
- DFM/DFT background
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