Product Engineer - Staff

Overview/Job Summary

We are seeking a Staff Product Engineer with deep expertise in motion sensor technology to serve as the critical technical bridge between core product engineering and customer-facing teams. In this role, you will lead the validation, performance characterization, and failure analysis of our high-precision Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) products. You will act as the primary technical liasion, driving root-cause analysis (RCA) on escalated product issues and Return Merchandise Authorizations (RMAs) to continuously improve product design, firmware, and manufacturing quality. As a Staff-level engineer, you will shape validation methodologies, drive root-cause investigations, and ensure our sensor products meet rigorous customer requirements across dynamic operating environments.

Job Description

In this role, you will define end-to-end IMU validation strategies—spanning accelerometers, gyroscopes and calibration algorithms. When complex field issues or RMAs arise, you will lead cross-functional investigations to isolate root causes down to silicon, MEMS structure, CMOS or test coverage.You will recreate customer setups to run tests, analyze test data, and identify product failures. You will work with design and test teams to implement improvements while guiding customer-facing teams on what broke and how to resolve it.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

IMU Validation : Execute comprehensive validation plans for IMU sensors covering noise metrics, bias stability, cross-axis sensitivity, thermal drift and dynamic shock/vibration performance

Customer & Product Liaison : Act as the main technical escalation point between internal R&D and Customer Application Engineering for critical product issues.

RMA & Root Cause Analysis : Lead complex technical investigations for RMAs. Perform physical, electrical, and data-level failure analysis to isolate root causes down to silicon, MEMS structure, package, firmware, or test coverage gaps.

Design Feedback Loop : Feed insights from field failures into core engineering to drive architectural, calibration, and design-for-manufacturability (DFM) enhancements.

Test Automation : Develop hardware-in-the-loop setups and data analysis pipelines (Python/MATLAB) to accelerate sensor characterization and stress testing.

Minimum Qualifications

- Master's degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Systems Engineering, Robotics, or related field.
- 8+ years of industry experience specializing in product engineering, validation, or customer application engineering with primary focus on motion sensor systems.
- Strong understanding of sensor architectures (accelerometers, gyroscopes), performance metrics (noise, bias, sensitivity, offset), signal processing and sensor calibration.
- Proven experience directing root-cause failure analysis and 8D processes for hardware or sensor systems
- Proficiency with automation tools (JMP, Python, MATLAB, C/C++) for sensor data processing, parametric analysis, automated benchtesting and yield monitoring.

Invensense, a TDK group company, is a world-leading provider of MEMS and magnetic sensor solutions found in mobile, wearable, smart home, AR/VR, and other consumer and IoT applications. We are innovators with a 20+ year history of patented sensor technologies. As experts in our field, we lead industry breakthroughs in consumer, industrial and automotive technology and reliably deliver high-quality solutions to our partners across global markets. Learn more about us at invensense.tdk.com.

The starting annual base pay for this role ranges between USD $130,000.00 and $155,000.00. The actual base pay is dependent on various factors, including training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, and market conditions. This range is subject to change and may be adjusted in the future.

This position is open to candidates based in San Jose, CA with a hybrid work requirement (on-site presence required). The role is also eligible for variable bonus programs and benefits.