Electrical Engineer (Embedded Hardware / Wearable Sensors)

About PlayFast

PlayFast is a sports-tech startup building a wearable motion sensor that clips onto a lacrosse stick and tracks throw speed, shot count, and workout performance in real time. The hardware is a custom-designed board built around a Nordic nRF52840, a high-range IMU, and onboard flash, talking to an iOS app over Bluetooth.

We are pre-launch, moving fast, and looking for an electrical engineer who can own the hardware end to end.

The Role

You will be the hardware lead on our custom sensor board. That means taking a design from schematic through to a board that powers up cleanly, talks reliably over Bluetooth, and survives being swung on the end of a lacrosse stick. You will work directly with the founder and our firmware effort. This is a hands-on role: you will be at the bench with a board, a programmer, and a multimeter, not just in a CAD tool.

What you will do

• Design, lay out, and revise custom PCBs around the Nordic nRF52840 (BLE SoC)
• Own the power section: battery management, LDO/regulator selection, and a clean power path from USB and battery to the radio and sensors
• Bring up new board revisions: flash via SWD/J-Link, validate rails, debug why a radio works on one power path but not another, and isolate failures down to a specific component (regulator, cap, trace)
• Integrate and validate peripherals: a high-g IMU (accelerometer/gyro), SPI NAND flash for onboard data logging, and the BLE antenna path
• Work alongside firmware to make sure the hardware and the embedded code agree on pin maps, interfaces, and timing
• Design for manufacturing and for a real product: antenna tuning, mechanical fit, durability, and battery life
• Document schematics, pin maps, and bring-up procedures so the work is repeatable

What we are looking for

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience
• Proven experience designing and bringing up custom PCBs, ideally with a wireless MCU (Nordic nRF5x a strong plus)
• Solid grasp of power electronics: regulators, battery charging, low-power design, and reading a datasheet to spec the right part
• Comfortable at the bench with a scope, multimeter, logic analyzer, and a SWD programmer (J-Link experience a plus)
• Experience with BLE hardware: antenna layout, RF matching, and debugging radio-vs-power issues
• Familiarity with sensor integration over SPI/I2C (IMUs, flash memory)
• A debugging mindset: you isolate the variable, prove the root cause, and do not guess

Nice to have

• Embedded firmware exposure (Zephyr / nRF Connect SDK, or bare-metal C)
• Experience taking a product from prototype to small-batch manufacturing
• DFM, test fixture, or production-bring-up experience
• Interest in sports, wearables, or consumer hardware

Pay: $70.00 - $130.00 per hour

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Columbus, OH 43268