Hardware Design Engineer

Location: London

Employment Type: Full-time

Department: Engineering – Hardware

About the Company

Timebeat is a leader in high-precision clock synchronisation technology, delivering enterprise-grade timing solutions for financial services, telecommunications, aerospace, defence, and critical infrastructure. Our products enable nanosecond-level accuracy, reliability, and visibility across distributed systems. We are expanding our hardware engineering team to continue advancing our timing platforms and next-generation synchronisation devices.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Hardware Design Engineer with experience in PCB design using Altium Designer. In this role, you will design, develop, test, and iterate hardware solutions for high-precision timing, network synchronisation, and embedded systems. You will work closely with software, FPGA, mechanical, and product teams to deliver robust, production-ready designs. You will work alongside senior hardware design engineers as well as external design consultants.

Key Responsibilities

Hardware Design & Development

• Design multi-layer PCBs in Altium Designer, including schematic capture, layout, library management, and DFM/DFA considerations.
• Develop hardware for clock synchronisation and timing systems, including oscillators, GNSS receivers, network timing modules (PTP/NTP), and related embedded electronics.
• Create, simulate, and validate high-speed digital, analogue, mixed-signal, and power circuitry.
• Perform signal integrity and power integrity analysis; design for EMC compliance.
• Generate comprehensive fabrication and assembly documentation.

Testing & Validation

• Develop and execute test plans for prototype validation and product qualification.
• Work with lab equipment (oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers, frequency counters, power analysers, logic analysers).
• Debug hardware issues and provide timely design revisions.
• Support environmental, compliance, and reliability testing.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with firmware, FPGA, and software engineers to ensure seamless integration across the product stack.
• Work with manufacturing partners to resolve production issues and improve yield.
• Participate in design reviews, documentation, and version-control workflows.

Required Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or related field.
• 1-5 years experience
• Proven experience designing PCBs using Altium Designer.
• Strong understanding of digital and analogue circuit design.
• Experience with high-speed interfaces (e.g., Ethernet, USB, SPI, I2C, LVDS).
• Familiarity with oscillators, timing circuits, PLLs, GNSS modules, and precision measurement components.
• Solid understanding of EMC/EMI principles and regulatory compliance (CE, FCC or similar).
• Comfortable using lab equipment for debugging and characterisation.
• Knowledge of design-for-manufacture (DFM) and design-for-test (DFT).

Preferred Qualifications (nice to have but not essential)

• Experience in hardware for timing, synchronisation, PTP (IEEE 1588), GNSS, or networking hardware.
• Experience with FPGA/SoC platforms (Xilinx, Intel/Altera, Microchip).
• Familiarity with thermal design and power optimisation.
• Experience with scripting or automation tools (Python, MATLAB, etc.).
• Knowledge of embedded firmware basics (C/C++).

Personal Attributes

• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and prioritise effectively.
• Collaborative and communicative team player.
• Driven to innovate and continuously improve hardware quality.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge timing and synchronisation technologies.
• A collaborative, fast-moving, engineering-focused environment.
• Career growth and technical development opportunities.