cincinnati, OH / REMOTE
Full-Time Regular
1195
$0.00 — $0.00

We are a fourth-generation family-owned manufacturing company. We have been in business since 1894 and we were the first company in the world to manufacture toy electric trains. We also introduced electric searchlights to riverboats in the late 1890s. We are an OEM in Cincinnati, Ohio where we design and manufacture a well-established product line of high intensity, long range searchlights and related equipment including power supplies and control devices. We sell to customers all over the world, which includes our Navy and Coast Guard, other foreign military services, commercial towboats and offshore ships, patrol boats, and recreational yachts. We are certified to ISO 9001:2015 with Design.

We are seeking a broad-based electrical/mechanical engineer to assist our small engineering team with support and development of existing and future high-intensity lighting products.

Technologies We Work With:

  • Xenon Arc, LED, and Incandescent/Halogen light sources, parabolic reflectors, plastic and glass lenses
  • Switching power supplies, magnetic power supply ballasts
  • Industrial-type discrete-wired controls (switches, thermostats, heaters, indicators), AC and DC motors and fans, gearing and clutches, relays, transformers, DIN-rail mounted terminals and devices
  • Carlisle & Finch “SmartVIEW” RS485-based digital control system, Ethernet interfaces
  • Thermal and low-light cameras (analog and IP video)
  • Integration with other marine and security protocols and vendors
  • Component Design
    • Aluminum, Brass, Stainless Steel, Plastic
    • Sheet Metal Forming, Machining, Casting, 3D Printing, Injection Molding, Welding, Powder Coating
  • Electronic Design
    • PCB design and layout (Altium)
    • Firmware development in C on STM32 ARM processors
    • LED drivers, motor/motion control, power supplies, temperature regulation, digital communications
    • Test fixtures and program/test scripts (Python)
  • Testing:
    • Optical: Intensity, Beam Width/Profile, Lumen Output
    • Electrical: Various bench testing, EMI/EMC, ESD
    • Environmental: Temperature/humidity, icing, vibration, corrosion

Job Responsibilities:

  • Production Support and Product Maintenance
    • Assist shop floor personnel with assembly and test questions or electrical problems.
    • Find, test, and document replacements for obsolete parts.
    • Resolve design issues found on the shop floor or in the field.
    • Assess testing requirements and design or specify equipment and procedures.
  • Technical Support
    • Compile product manuals for new system configurations and product offerings, maintain product manual system and process.
    • Assist with troubleshooting and repair support to customers in the field (roughly two inquiries per week).
    • Provide support to sales regarding various system configurations, assist with creation of wiring diagrams.
  • Product Development Support
    • Assist with design and testing of new products. This could involve circuit design, component selection, PCB layout, prototype assembly, mechanical assembly and component design, coordinating designs with outside partners, design review, various product testing (in-house bench testing, lab testing, field testing), and test fixture and test script development. These functions will largely depend on the background and capabilities of the employee and may grow over time.

Daily activities often include some tasks in each of these three areas. Involvement would likely be relatively balanced over these areas when considered over a 2-month or greater window, although the areas of Production/Maintenance and Technical Support would be prioritized early on.

Job Qualifications and Skill Requirements:

  • Education and Experience:
    • A bachelor’s degree in electrical or mechanical engineering or engineering technology would be the typical educational background for this role, but it is not required if the applicant has relevant experience.
    • At least three years of experience in a related capacity.
    • A broad range of experience and ability is far more valuable for this position than expertise in any one area.
  • Technical Skills:
    • Able to design simple AC and DC circuits.
    • Required experience:
      • Electrical and/or environmental testing.
      • 2D CAD software (AutoCAD or similar).
      • Working with manufacturing personnel, procedures, and testing.
      • Understanding of Excel formulas and general MS Office software.
    • Experience in these areas is helpful but not all are required:
      • 3D CAD software (AutoDesk Inventor or Fusion, Solidworks, or similar)
      • Physical fabrication (3D printing, machining, PCB assembly and soldering, welding, etc)
      • PCB layout (Altium, PADS, KiCad, Eagle, or similar)
      • High-level programming (Python would be most relevant)
      • Embedded programming in C
  • Personality:
    • Personality/temperament is at least as important as technical skills, but it seems likely that someone with the broad range of technical capability we are seeking would have a suitable personality to work in this environment.
    • Self-motivated and can work on projects with long-term direction (months/years rather than daily/weekly) but will reach out for assistance when stalled out.
    • Able to work effectively on long-term projects despite frequent interruptions (multiple times per day) to respond to short-term tasks.
    • Able to learn new skills and technologies with minimal support.
    • Takes pride in technical achievements and customer satisfaction within a stable small-company culture, rather than “climbing the corporate ladder” of job titles and pay scales in an organization that has sudden shifts in strategy and staffing.