Description:

Springs Window Fashions is hiring an Electrical Engineer in our New Product Innovation group based in our Middleton, WI Corporate Headquarters with a focus on Testing and Validation of embedded electronics solutions.

Springs Window Fashions has been part of the window treatments industry since 1939. We have over 7,000 associates with locations in North America, Europe, and Asia.  Our products are available in nearly every major retailer, in thousands of designer showrooms and showcased in large commercial buildings. 

Our company is privately owned with products marketed across a broad portfolio of brands including Bali, Graber, Mecho, SWFcontract and SunSetter.  We pride ourselves as “The Best Experience Company”, striving to provide the best experience for our consumers, channel partners, and associates. 

Job Summary

This role is responsible for validation of IOT embedded electronics solutions and test equipment design in support of new product development, continuous improvement, and sustaining engineering.  Scope of the role spans motors, controls, hardware, and software involved in the control, automation and integration of shading solutions within home and building environments.  It is a key part of new product development with strong cross-functional exposure including working closely with product managers, operations, programmers, engineers, technical support, customer support, and vendors to develop, execute, validate and report on product solutions to ensure good product design and performance, validate their performance against the competition and ensure product quality.

This role will work toward taking an ownership role in the Design Verification Plan and Report (DVP&R) and will be central to the engineering design approval process. This role will allow the team member to leverage their experience and grow their capabilities on ensuring the proper design and performance of electronic hardware, firmware and software/apps which can furthermore support a variety of career path goals within Test Engineering, Product Design and Development, Quality Assurance or other fields of interest. Understanding requirements definition, reasons for failure and optimal design solutions, and the proper ways to test design solutions is critical to bringing new innovative products to market.

This role and the NPI team will have a direct impact on branding our company as an innovator in our market, and increasing the adoption of motorized solutions while improving the value, reliability, and performance of our products to our customers and consumers. Product responsibilities include Graber, Bali branded products, private label brands, and all support componentry. This key member of our Team will plan and manage product test engineering activities related to conceptualization, product design, testing / validation and manufacturing process functions.

Job Responsibilities:

Collaborate with the Design Engineering, Product Management, Manufacturing, Quality, and supplier teams to design and implement test programs and equipment.

Creates and maintains test architecture for reusable and maintainable test fixtures and ensures clean handoff to manufacturing where required.

Engaged in continuous improvement initiatives, recognizing process improvement methods to identify root cause, develop solutions, and implement solutions.

Supports all app, software, electrical product development activities for the Graber, Bali, and private label product lines and other associated products.

Collaborates on strategic application development, integration of connected devices and continuous support for operating system evolution including partnerships and voice control systems such as Alexa, Google Home, others

Tests to ensure designs comply with all relevant codes (electrical wiring, etc.) and standards (Cybersecurity, IOT, etc.). Initially supports testing at external labs but may grow to take ownership role of those relationships.

Develops and plans short- and long-term goals in accordance with SWF strategies and goals.

Participates in design reviews to discuss concepts and proposed product designs, ensuring testing needs are considered at the design stage.

Participates on project teams for new products, product enhancements, and NPS teams using the 4D stage gate process and teaming principles.

Develops engineering solutions for replicating and evaluating customer field complaints.

Develop and implement cost reduction measures in accordance with financial objectives.

Participates in capital equipment planning to meet test engineering goals and to sustainably build capability.

Maintains and controls engineering files, records, and documentation for test processes and test results.

Develops, plans, and implements timetables for engineering related projects.

Requirements:

Education and Experience

Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science

2+ years programming design experience in consumer products / electronics test / quality related industry

Relevant experience with new product development and product testing

Familiarity with app development for both IOS and Android, controls, user interfaces and software.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Conceptual and detail design skills

Ability to troubleshoot through hardware, firmware, software/app and communication network issues

Familiarity with WIFI and Bluetooth wireless solutions a plus.

Familiarity with home automation wireless protocols such as Zwave, ZigBee, Matter, etc. or serial networks using RS-232, RS-485, Ethernet, etc. a plus.

Front End GUI design experience using HTML, CSS, React, Angular, JavaScript, jsNode, jQuery, AJAX

Back-End design experience with Delphi, C++, mySQL, Go, Visual Studio, Eclipse a plus

Windows OS (all current versions)