Electrical Engineering Co-Op

About Samsara Hardware Engineering:

Samsara's hardware systems bridge the gap between the rapidly evolving world of physical operations and our cloud platform that enables our customers to increase the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of their operations which power the global economy. The hardware footprint is big – we build ultra-low power sensors, ruggedized asset trackers, vehicle ADAS systems with AI/ML, telematics systems, and rackmount video inspection with AI/Ml, with more to come in the future. We leverage myriad technologies including low-power MCUs, big SoCs, DSPs, LTE, GPS, BLE, WiFi, imaging sensors, ML/AI/CV, accelerometers, and more. Our challenges span the gamut from eeking out single-digit microamps to thermals to desense to cost reduction to antenna design to enclosure design that survives extreme environments. 

About the role:

We're looking for an Electrical Engineer co-op to join our team. In the day-to-day, you will be responsible for working on the EE aspects of the design of products based on thorough feasibility, design, and cost studies encompassing key component selection, thermals, antenna, etc. We have a tremendous amount of telemetry and access to customers that help guide our design process. You will work directly with our customers to ensure we lead the industry with our product design. We run a collaborative process working closely with Product Management, PD, FW, EPM, NPI, and Hardware leadership to make excellent tradeoffs and choices. Throughout this process, you'll share your expertise with other engineers. The US and Taiwan EE teams are supported by the Supply Chain team, laboratories, JDM design resources, and a growing supply base. You will work closely with these internal and external partners to achieve our objectives.

This role will be held at our San Francisco office. Co-ops are required to be in the office Tuesdays to Thursdays and remote work days on Mondays and Fridays. As part of the co-op program, we do provide relocation and housing support for the duration of the co-op. To be eligible for this role, you must be attending a university that supports full-time work as part of a 6-month co-op OR attend a university that will allow you to take 2 quarters or one semester off to work a co-op. We are looking for this co-op to join us from January - June 2025. At this time, we are not accepting first-year co-op students. Ideally, this student is in their junior year of school as an undergraduate student and has previous internship and/or co-op experience.

You should apply if:

• You want to impact the industries that run our world: Your efforts will result in real-world impact-helping to keep the lights on, get food into grocery stores, reduce emissions, and most importantly, ensure workers return home safely.
• You are the architect of your own career: If you put in the work, this role won't be your last at Samsara. We set up our employees for success and have built a culture that encourages rapid career development, countless opportunities to experiment and master your craft in a hyper growth environment.
• You're energized by our opportunity: The vision we have to digitize large sectors of the global economy requires your full focus and best efforts to bring forth creative, ambitious ideas for our customers.
• You want to be with the best: At Samsara, we win together, celebrate together and support each other. You will be surrounded by a high-calibre team that will encourage you to do your best.

In this role, you will: 

• Contribute to shipping successful product lines.
• Conduct research: Stay informed of the latest silicon possibilities from all the top semiconductor companies. 
• Know the system: Evaluate system feature tradeoffs and create the system specifications for development with product management and cross-functional engineering teams. 
• Prototype: Assemble EVKs, board hacks, or quick-turn fabrication for evaluating concepts or jump-starting firmware development.
• Design: Take a concept from block diagram to schematics and through layout; either on your own or navigate the process with JDM resources.
• Test: Create a validation plan for each phase of the product development through PVT and characterize the full electrical system for function, power, and use-cases.
• Failure analysis: Find the root cause of design inefficiencies and field failures, and improve design to meet performance and quality requirements.
• Manage: We bolster our internal development team with top JDM companies to design, validate, certify and manufacture quality products, certification labs and other external consultants. 
• Champion, role model, and embed Samsara's cultural principles (Focus on Customer Success, Build for the Long Term, Adopt a Growth Mindset, Be Inclusive, Win as a Team) as we scale globally and across new offices.

An ideal candidate also has:

• Bachelor's degree in progress in Electrical Engineering or a related technical field. We are looking for second or third-time co-op or Master level co-op students. We will not be considering first-time co-ops. Your target graduation timeline is May-June 2026. 
• You must be able to commit to a minimum of 6 months of full-time co-op employment and have a university that supports the co-op experience.
• Prior intern or co-op experience working on high-volume hardware programs.
• Solid fundamentals in digital, analog, and mixed-signal circuits.
• Schematic and layout knowledge in Altium or Cadence or CAD/Allegro.
• Ability to navigate tradeoffs between design, manufacturability, schedule, and cost.
• Hands-on experience with test instruments such as oscilloscopes, signal generators, and spectrum analyzers.
• Knowledge of cameras, sensors, WiFi, LTE, Bluetooth, GPS, antennas, and batteries.
• Strong ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams and drive independent work.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

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