HARDWARE DESIGN ENGINEER SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, AND JOB REQUIREMENTS

Published: Jul 22, 2025 - The Hardware Design Engineer has experience designing and supporting the development of complex electronic systems, with a strong focus on the medical device industry and adherence to regulatory standards such as ISO 13485, ISO 14971, and 21 CFR Part 820.30. This role requires advanced proficiency in SolidWorks, the ability to produce production-ready mechanical drawings, and experience taking designs from concept to implementation. The engineer also brings deep knowledge of regulated product development, excels in cross-functional teamwork, and demonstrates strategic goal-setting, adaptability, and problem-solving in dynamic engineering environments.

Essential Hard and Soft Skills for a Standout Hardware Design Engineer Resume
  • Hardware Design
  • Circuit Design
  • Schematic Capture
  • PCB Layout
  • Component Selection
  • Board Bring-Up
  • Design Verification
  • Test Plan Development
  • Power Conversion
  • Documentation Management
  • Project Teamwork
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Technical Leadership
  • Problem Solving
  • Team Collaboration
  • Communication Skills
  • Task Management
  • Information Sharing
  • Project Ownership
  • Manufacturing Collaboration

Summary of Hardware Design Engineer Knowledge and Qualifications on Resume

1. BS in Computer Engineering with 3 years of Experience

  • Experience working in hardware design
  • Deep knowledge of analog and digital circuits
  • Familiarity with design and simulation tools (e.g., Pspice, LTSpice, Zuken)
  • Good communication skills and like to share knowledge with junior colleagues
  • Passion for new technologies and innovation
  • Ability to adapt and to synthesize
  • An analytical way of thinking and a reliable way of working
  • Fluency in English and/or German
  • Independent worker who can have a "see a need, fill a need" type of mindset
  • Willingness to undertake business trips abroad for training and project work

2. BS in Computer Science with 6 years of Experience

  • Professional experience designing electronic products
  • Experience designing PCBs containing analog and mixed-signal circuits
  • Experience working with embedded software or programmable hardware
  • Experience designing to environmental and EMI requirements, such as RTCA DO-160 or MIL-STD-810/461
  • Experience designing power conversion products or battery management systems
  • Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Organized, focused, and results-oriented
  • Solid problem-solving and prioritizing ability
  • Proficient with Microsoft Office products, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

3. BS in Electronics Engineering with 8 years of Experience

  • Hands-on high-speed hardware design experience, involving Processors/Controllers, DDR3/4 SDRAM, LCD, Touch Screen, WiFi/BT, NAND/NOR Flash, etc.
  • Hands-on experience in Altium for schematic Design and Layout review.
  • Hands-on experience in performing High Speed Hardware/Interface validation, Functional Validation, System V&V, DVT, and protocol validation
  • Strongly skilled in HW Architecture/Interface options, system-level aspects of HW-SW-Mechanical interplay.
  • Excellent simulation and analysis capabilities for Signal Integrity, Power Integrity, EMI/EMC, etc.
  • Hands-on experience in one of the following tools: Cadence OrCAD, Design Authoring/Concept HDL, etc.
  • Good written and verbal communication skills
  • Good analytical skills and a strong attention to detail.
  • Ability to collaborate with other departments to ensure understanding of project specifications and business needs
  • Successful track record of delivering highly innovative communications products

4. BS in Electrical Engineering with 5 years of Experience

  • Working knowledge of consumer electronics hardware system development and integration
  • Proven track record of delivering platform reference designs
  • Good working knowledge of processor pinout and board-level signal integrity
  • Must be able to drive schematic and layout of design from bottom up
  • Strong grasp on system power delivery and stackup selection
  • Exposure to chipset bring-up planning and system validation
  • Ability to forge and manage relationships with multiple disciplines
  • Creativity in product development
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
  • Exercise good critical judgment

5. BS in Physics with 7 years of Experience

  • Experience with electrical schematics, PCB design, and layout
  • Experience with FMEA, Design of Experiments, Design of Manufacturability, human factors, usability engineering, and qualification testing for new products
  • Working knowledge of quality systems for medical devices, including IEC 60601, 21CFR 820, and ISO 13485, with ASQ certification
  • Computer proficiency with Microsoft Office
  • Strong problem-solving skills as applied to both specific technical issues and conceptual "open-ended" issues, identifying critical criteria in problem-solving
  • Demonstrated history of collaborating successfully across multiple functions and external customers
  • Successfully meeting deadlines under strict time constraints
  • Ability to work independently, to set priorities, and follow through on deliverables
  • Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions
  • History of presenting technical material to an audience with varying levels of technical knowledge

6. BS in Mechanical Engineering with 4 years of Experience

  • Experience in the electrical engineering field and comprehensive knowledge of electrical engineering principles.
  • Experience in aiding in the design and testing of electrical hardware.
  • Can use various design tools such as schematic capture, PLM, ALM, PSPICE simulation, Redmine, SharePoint, and Microsoft Office software
  • Can use testing tools such as oscilloscopes, programmable power supply, digital multimeter, and ARB waveform FCN generator to test hardware functionality.
  • Solid understanding of specification creation, design analysis principles, project management, circuit theory, drawing creation, and development processes.
  • Knowledge of tolerance and worst-case analysis methodologies.
  • Strong interpersonal skills to work effectively with customers and multi-cultural teams, in addition to managing multiple projects with competing deadlines.
  • Solid understanding of circuit analysis, component selection, WCA, test plans, measurements, cost savings (VA/VE), and other design/test-related skills.
  • Solid analysis skills in troubleshooting electronic module failures
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

7. BS in Materials Science with 9 years of Experience

  • Experience with the development of embedded systems running embedded firmware.
  • A combination of digital, analog, and RF (e.g., BT, WIFI, GNSS) hardware design
  • Experience debugging embedded systems, solving complex system-level issues, and analyzing data.
  • Comfort with a collaborative, matrixed, and decentralized organizational structure.
  • Experience developing high-volume products for harsh environments with high-quality expectations.
  • Experience serving as a consultant/design expert to both internal and external engineering organizations.
  • Highly organized, able to build a custom workflow for tracking projects, jobs, and deliverables from the initial idea to the final product
  • Be easy to work with, and be able to maintain a positive attitude in fluid situations.
  • Excellent multi-tasking and self-management skills, and also able to take direction and constructive feedback
  • Possesses a deep understanding of and passion for all musical effects platforms
  • Be flexible under pressure

8. BS in Telecommunications Engineering with 3 years of Experience

  • Experience working in Electrical Engineering
  • A focus within one (or more) of the following concentrations: Signal Processing, DSPs, MATLAB, Microprocessors (especially ARM processors, FPGAs, and Altium), digital design (including programmable logic, wireless/Bluetooth design, interfaces, and Altium), Digital (and analog, if possible) design, component selection, Spice, Altium
  • Familiarity with C/C++ and/or some other programming language experience, including Python and Matlab
  • Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting skills
  • Ability to initiate and take on work independently with minimal guidance
  • Good personal organization skills
  • Promptly and effectively handles issues and problems.
  • Highly developed communication skills, including the ability to present ideas and share knowledge with others.
  • Self-starter, motivated individual who can work alone, with little supervision.

9. BS in Systems Engineering with 7 years of Experience

  • Familiar with video compression standards, such as H264, H265, VVC, VP9, AV1, etc.
  • Hands-on experiences with their hardware implementations.
  • Experience in functional modeling of video compression, video processing, convolutional neural network, etc.
  • Familiar with neural network algorithms, especially the convolutional neural network in video processing and enhancement.
  • Experience in using high-level languages such as OpenCL and HLS.
  • Experience in hardware/firmware development, kernel, or driver development
  • Experience in open source development platforms, such as ffmpeg, x264, x265, tensorflow, caffe, pytorch, etc.
  • Strong design, presentation, and communication skills
  • Demonstrate a mindset of ownership, accountability, and a sense of urgency to achieve productivity results
  • Ability to handle and prioritize many tasks and projects

10. BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering with 6 years of Experience

  • Experience in high-speed board design and testing.
  • Experience in SI simulation and analysis
  • Experience in camera-related board design
  • Proficient in designing systems with SoC, DDR2/3, Video, and Audio stream interfaces.
  • Good knowledge of USB, I2C, SPI, and UART interfaces.
  • Experience in defining stack-up and routing strategy for boards.
  • Experience in board bring-up, testing, and design validation on products.
  • Hands-on experience in using high-speed digital oscilloscopes, data analyzers, and other test equipment.
  • System-level knowledge involving Mechanical/Thermal solutions, EMI/EMC, Safety, and hardware compliance tests
  • Experience with the ORCAD schematic entry tool.
  • Familiar with Altium Board Design tools.

11. BS in Embedded Systems Engineering with 10 years of Experience

  • Extensive experience in full hardware development life cycle, including requirements management, design, development, verification & validation, qualification & certification testing in Electrical/Industrial applications.
  • Expertise in developing high-speed mixed signal circuits.
  • Working knowledge of 16/32 bit micro-controllers and high-speed peripherals-based designs.
  • Sound experience of linear and switched-mode power Supplies
  • Hands-on experience on various Communication protocols like RS232, USB, SPI, I2C, Ethernet, etc
  • Hands-on experience in defining the system/subsystem specifications, designing the architecture, and requirements for complex systems.
  • Sound experience with simulation tools like PSpice, LTSpice, Model Sim, etc.
  • Demonstrated ability to technically lead, work with cross-functional teams, and provide solutions.
  • Fluent verbal and written communication skills in English
  • Ability to effectively communicate design proposals and negotiate options.

12. BS in Automation Engineering with 9 years of Experience

  • Ability to create system layouts, hardware, software, safety, and control strategy designs that fulfill given specifications
  • Ability to quote and optimize cost, performance, and meet internal/external customer requirements for complex systems
  • Advanced experience in testing of electronic systems, such as environmental, EMC, etc.
  • Thorough knowledge of circuit-level hardware implementation with analog interface
  • Proficiency with all forms of liquid crystal displays
  • Experience designing analog circuitry, power supplies, and embedded microcontrollers
  • Knowledgeable in communication protocols including CAN, LIN, USB, SPI, 12C, RS485, J1587, J1939, and J1708
  • Competence in basic Microsoft software packages and basic electronic design software, including Altium
  • Excellent time management and organizational skills
  • Demonstrated capability for critical thinking

13. BS in Applied Physics with 5 years of Experience

  • Experience in designing hardware for electronics controls
  • Basic proficiency in writing embedded code for electronics controls utilizing C/C++
  • Strong interpersonal skills, a positive attitude, and the ability to learn quickly
  • Strong computer skills including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • Ability to work on-site at the Commercial Product Engineering Center in McBee, South Carolina
  • Experience designing electronic controls for HVAC or appliance applications.
  • Experience designing and testing to regulating agency standards such as UL, FCC, CE, CSA, etc.
  • Experience with communications such as RS-485, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi
  • Familiarity with PADS PCB design software.
  • Familiarity with NXP microcontrollers
  • Familiarity with SCRUM/Agile project management methodology.

14. BS in Electrical Engineering with 8 years of Experience

  • Good knowledge of basic electronics.
  • Expertise in end-to-end product experience, having adopted embedded design principles w.r.t communication, speed, interface, memory, and other hardware resources.
  • Exposure to various processor architectures such as Atmel, ARM, Renaissance, and TI.
  • Master in soldering, voltage regulation, and management (memory, power, and volume) circuitries.
  • Expertise in multilevel PCB design and layout, and schematic design.
  • Experience with the various steps in the design cycle of a PCB-based product, including translating functional requirements, designing schematics, identifying and sourcing components, including appropriate ICs and connectors, reducing BoM costs, breadboard testing, PCB layout, PCB testing, and so on.
  • Must have worked with a network of schematic designers, PCB layout designers to execute specific requirements of a product.
  • Previous experience of working with CAD designers and knowledge of the interface issues between electrical and mechanical components of a product
  • Previous experience of having seen at least one complete product design cycle for an electronics device
  • Awareness of various interfaces like UART, RS 232, SPI, USB, RJ 45, and interfacing via different connectors/cables.
  • Exposed to hardware simulation/design/verification tools.
  • Effective communication while working and interacting with clients, vendors, and customers.
  • Awareness of various handheld devices and peripheral devices

15. BS in Mechanical Engineering with 7 years of Experience

  • Proven experience in successful SoC or IP designs for ASICs in leading-edge technology
  • Strong expertise in digital design, including specification development, RTL design, synthesis, and static timing signoff
  • Knowledgeable in one or more industry standard interfaces, such as AMBA AXI, PCIe, USB, and DDR/LPDDR
  • Experience in FPGA design, including an understanding of the tradeoffs for mapping ASIC to FPGA or vice versa
  • Experience in chip design quality tape-out through rigorous design and checklist reviews
  • Experience with low-power implementation methodologies
  • A self-starter with good communication skills
  • Ability to facilitate cross-group collaboration across Microsoft internal groups and external vendors
  • Ability to work independently and a strong desire for success.
  • High resilience and ability to work in a challenging and very dynamic environment

16. BS in Computer Engineering with 11 years of Experience

  • Individual contribution to electrical engineering with expertise in innovation and development of digital and analog hardware products.
  • Proven ability for technical innovation and implementation.
  • Ability to lead technical engineering and contribute to program decisions and direction.
  • Experience in product development from concept to production
  • Must be able to deliver high-quality designs while facing challenging schedules and program deliverables.
  • Must have expertise with system-level hardware architecture, schematic capture, PCB development, manufacturing productization, and overall hardware design.
  • Ability to influence across hardware development and program core teams
  • Must have experience with electrical system testing, including design verification testing, hardware quality assurance testing, and failure root cause testing and analysis.
  • Must have strong verbal and written communication skills and be comfortable creating presentations and leading technical meetings
  • Experience with microprocessors, FPGAs, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), video, audio, telecom, computer interfaces, and high-speed interfaces
  • Experience with Android operating systems and architectures, and video conferencing hardware

17. BS in Physics with 4 years of Experience

  • Experience in VLSI design, Logic, and RTL design
  • Working knowledge of verification and validation with SystemVerilog and UVM environments
  • Experience with EDA tools or EDA tool administration
  • Experience in SystemVerilog, UVM, SystemC, Verilog, or VHDL
  • Experience in C++/Python and object-oriented programming
  • Experience with real-time embedded software/firmware development, Linux kernel/device drivers, system-level simulation, and optimization
  • Basic machine learning knowledge
  • Working knowledge of mapping neural networks to custom hardware
  • Excellent component selection and decision-making skills.
  • Team player, able to work across functional groups and personalities to achieve the desired outcome.

18. BS in Computer Science with 6 years of Experience

  • Experience in hardware design in computer vision products
  • Demonstrated ability to contribute to system-level design decisions
  • Automotive electronics experience and familiarity with electronics industry standards and Functional Safety (ISO 26262)
  • Strong analog/digital design background, including high-speed digital design experience
  • In-depth understanding of controlled impedance PCB design, clock distribution, and timing analysis
  • Excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills
  • Excellent analysis skills in troubleshooting electronic module failures
  • Confident, articulate, self-motivated, determined, and energetic
  • Self-starter, motivated individual who can work alone, with little supervision.

19. BS in Electronics Engineering with 9 years of Experience

  • FPGA design experience
  • Experience in product development and product release of printed circuit board level electronic hardware with expertise in analog and digital circuits focused on the control of hybrid stepper motors, and AC and DC brushless servo motors.
  • Working knowledge of designing with electronic hardware design tools such as schematic capture (Altium, Mentor Graphics, or similar), PCB design, timing analysis, and signal integrity.
  • Ability to develop electronic hardware systems that meet product certification requirements, such as UL, CE, or IEC 61010.
  • Experience developing electronic hardware systems that meet functional safety standards, IEC 61508, and/or SIL2/SIL3.
  • Knowledge of, and able to perform, PFD/PFH calculations for safety applications.
  • Understanding of how to perform availability analysis of redundant elements.
  • Experience simulating analog circuit performance and reliability (e.g., using software such as MathCad, LTspice /Saber, or similar).
  • Experience with fault-tolerant design, redundant design, high availability design, etc.
  • Working knowledge of developing electronic hardware systems that meet security standards, such as IEC 62443, and functional safety standards, such as IEC 61511.

20. BS in Materials Science with 7 years of Experience

  • Professional experience in a R&D environment, and have completed two full design cycles
  • Demonstrated experience in the design of industrial equipment, such as valves and actuators, and electronic control systems
  • Experience in the elaboration of electronic controls and electrical schematics, and electronics agency and standard requirements
  • Knowledge of MATLAB/Simulink, PLC, and DCS
  • Detailed knowledge of circuit design, especially high-speed applications, filters, sensors, and power supply for battery-powered devices
  • Good experience in schematic design and EMC conformance PCB design and design tools, e.g., Altium, Eagle
  • Experience in circuit simulation and simulation tools, e.g., LTspice, PSpice
  • Experience in antenna and electromagnetic design and tools, e.g., CST, HFSS
  • Knowledge about batteries, especially primary cells for long-lifetime devices
  • Basic knowledge in quality management and documents, e.g., FMEA
  • Experience in PCB soldering of small components, e.g., 0402, QFN package
  • Willingness to travel to support testing at the customer location
  • Basic C programming skills

21. BS in Telecommunications Engineering with 5 years of Experience

  • Experience in wide bandwidth analog circuit board design
  • Solid transmission line theory and implementation
  • Experience with analog circuit simulation tools
  • DC-DC voltage conversion (switching power regulation)
  • Experience with 3D field solver tools
  • Familiar with scripting languages and equipment automation
  • Self-motivated, desire to take on challenges, result-driven, and detail-oriented.
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills
  • In-depth knowledge of circuit designs, as well as semiconductor design.
  • Good PCB design experience on high-speed signals routing guideline and review, power copper routing and review, and design for EMI/ESD protection.

22. BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering with 8 years of Experience

  • Relevant experience in electrical/automation cabinets design and/or construction, or in a project-related environment
  • Computer literate (knowledge of the MS Office package)
  • Good knowledge in technology-related areas (ATEX, SIS, etc.)
  • Fluent verbal and written communication skills in English
  • Experience in working in project teams (especially geographically distributed teams).
  • Experience with Ethernet, SPI, I2C, PCIe, and Power circuits.
  • Experience working with products from Broadcom, Microchip
  • Experience in programming in VHDL and on Linux platforms
  • Experience in programming on Xilinx FPGAs (any combination of VIRTEX-II Pro, VIRTEX-4, VIRTEX-5, or VIRTEX-6
  • Experience with Xilinx ISE, Synplify Pro, and Modeltech's Modelsim
  • Experience in programming in one or more of the following scripting languages: PERL, sh, bash, csh, or Python
  • Experience using LINUX for day-to-day activities.
  • Working knowledge of aerospace electronics design, development, and qualification.
  • Understanding of worst-case circuit analysis, failure methods, criticality analyses, and reliability analysis.
  • Knowledge of EMI/EMC design and mitigation techniques.

23. BS in Embedded Systems Engineering with 3 years of Experience

  • Relevant experience in electronic design
  • Experience with Microcontroller, SoC, and DDR/SDRAM Schematic design
  • Excellent analysis skills in troubleshooting electronic module failures
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Confident, articulate, self-motivated, determined, and energetic
  • Self-starter, motivated individual who can work alone, with little supervision.
  • Able to demonstrate a level of commitment, initiative, and quality of workmanship within an R&D environment.
  • Excellent problem-solving skills

24. BS in Information Technology with 4 years of Experience

  • Experience in full life-cycle hardware design/development.
  • Experience with high-speed differential lines and serial interfaces
  • Experience in FPGA design (Xilinx UltraScale/HBM/RFSoC)
  • Understanding of high-speed signaling and signal integrity
  • An understanding of digital electronics
  • Fluency in Mentor Graphics Xpedition DxDesigner
  • Experience with the VPX platform
  • Ability to design FPGA/CPLD logic in VHDL
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Excellent time management and organizational skills

25. BS in Systems Engineering with 9 years of Experience

  • Experience in high-speed and mixed-signal product design and development.
  • Hands-on experience in circuit design and circuit simulation, must have an excellent skill set in circuit analysis.
  • Experience in Industrial/MIL grade environmental system design, in which processor-controlled and FPGA-controlled devices are involved.
  • Excellent component selection and decision-making skills.
  • Working experience with high-speed digital interfaces such as PCI Express, DDR3/4 SDRAM, 100Mbps/1000Mbps/10Gb Ethernet, Battery management system, and USB2.0/3.0.
  • Experience in a range of technologies, including digital, analog, and power electronics.
  • Hands-on experience in writing low-level design documents, architectural design documents, and test procedures
  • Excellent knowledge of electronic circuits and analysis.
  • Familiarity and Experience with Altium Designer and Allegro tools.
  • Ability to work with software engineers to design and debug systems.
  • Experience in Thermal analysis, Load analysis, and Timing analysis.
  • Knowledge of Signal integrity and power integrity.
  • Experience in system-level design, logical design, etc.
  • Experience and involvement in the complete cycle of product development and design skills
  • Good knowledge of EMI/EMC testing procedures and Certification standards.

26. BS in Applied Physics with 7 years of Experience

  • Experience in optical component or optical subsystem design
  • Experience with carrier-grade system requirements and high-speed optical transmission systems
  • Experience with design capture tools (Mentor Graphics -DX Designer)
  • Experience with board-level development utilizing high-speed digital circuits
  • Experience with hardware debugging tools - analyzers, scopes, emulators
  • Understanding of design for testability and manufacturability concepts
  • Experience using a variety of high-speed lab equipment (e.g., Optical Spectrum Analyzers - optical signal to noise ratio measurements, high-speed signal analysis and probing, optical wavelength measurements, bit error rate testing, eye diagram measurements)
  • Experience with a variety of optical interfaces and telecommunications standards
  • Experience with optical test and measurement, including insertion losses, polarization effects, and optical filter characteristics
  • Experience with high-speed digital devices and RF signal analysis
  • Experience with scripting languages

27. BS in Electrical Engineering with 10 years of Experience

  • Experience as a hardware/development engineer designing and supporting the development of complex systems.
  • Experience in delivering robust, portable systems in a regulated industry (e.g., Medical Devices, Automotive, Aerospace, Pharma).
  • Knowledge of Medical Device regulations (ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IEC 62304, 21 CFR part 820.30-Design Controls).
  • Experience in developing products for the Medical Device industry (preferably IVD industry).
  • Able to take complex designs from concept to implementation with minimal supervision.
  • Able to generate finished mechanical drawings suitable for release to production under the CR/CO system, from sketches and solid models provided by engineers.
  • Must be an expert SolidWorks user
  • Relevant hardware design, development, and testing experience, including a comprehensive familiarity with manufacturing equipment/processes that are compatible with highly reliable electronic medical or similar devices.
  • An ability to set stretch goals and link them to strategic outcomes and business deliverables.
  • Comfortable with ambiguity and implement change on demand.
  • Can promptly and effectively handle issues and problems.
  • Team player, able to work across functional groups and personalities to achieve the desired outcome.
  • Strong written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
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