From The Focusrite Group’s careers page.
Electronics and Hardware Engineer - TiMax
Based: London, N7
Term: Permanent, Full time
Salary: Dependant on experience + benefits
About Us:
TiMax Spatial is a leader in spatial audio and immersive sound technology. Our products power world-class live performances, installations and experiences, enabling creative professionals to position sound in space with precision and artistry. We're part of the Focusrite Group, and our sister brand Outboard manufactures motor controllers for use in the live events and film industries.
The Role:
This is a development role for someone at the start of their electronics career. We are looking for a capable, organised and genuinely curious engineer who wants to learn about professional audio hardware design.
You will design straightforward circuits for our Outboard range of motor controllers and support our senior engineers on more complex spatial audio hardware. You will be expected to read and understand a schematic confidently, ask good questions about it, and build from there.
A significant part of your time will also be spent keeping our hardware moving: acting as the point of contact for our contract manufacturers and for engineering colleagues across the group, managing circuit board revisions and change requests, resolving component obsolescence, and answering the questions that come back from the factory while boards are being built.
Duties:
Design and technical work
- Design straightforward circuits for the Outboard product range - control, interface, power and connectivity hardware - with review and support from senior engineers.
- Produce and update schematics and PCB layouts, initially for simpler boards and modifications to existing designs.
- Build, test and fault-find prototypes and production units using standard lab equipment.
- Assist senior engineers on more complex spatial audio hardware: measurement, characterisation, bring-up support and documentation. Firmware for our products is developed by colleagues in the team.
- Help specify and build test fixtures and production test procedures.
Engineering coordination and manufacturing support
- Act as the day-to-day point of contact for contract manufacturers and assembly partners, fielding queries as boards are built and escalating where needed.
- Liaise with engineering and operations colleagues across the Focusrite Group companies.
- Manage engineering change requests through to resolution, and maintain version control for circuit board designs and documentation.
- Run a clear ticketing and tracking process so that requested changes, queries and issues are visible and nothing is lost.
- Monitor component obsolescence and lifecycle notices, identify and qualify alternatives, and keep bills of materials accurate and current.
- Support sourcing activity: requesting quotes, comparing options and chasing lead times
Documentation and product support
- Maintain accurate engineering records: drawings, revisions, change history and test results.
- Support compliance and certification activity alongside group resources and external labs.
- Help diagnose field issues on returned units and feed findings back into design.
What We're Looking For:
Essential
- A degree in Electronic Engineering or a closely related discipline - or equivalent practical grounding gained through an apprenticeship, technician role or serious self-directed work.
- Confident understanding of electronics fundamentals: you can read a schematic, follow a signal path, and reason about a circuit using the underlying principles and equations.
- Practical competence with lab basics - multimeter, oscilloscope, soldering iron.
- The organisation to keep multiple open tasks moving without dropping one.
- Clear, professional written and verbal communication.
- The temperament to enjoy this kind of work. The satisfaction here comes from a build that goes smoothly and a product that ships, as much as from the design itself.
Desirable
- Any exposure to schematic capture or PCB layout tools (Altium, KiCad or similar), whether professional, academic or personal.
- Mechanical CAD experience using tools like SolidWorks.
- Analogue circuit knowledge, particularly audio.
- Familiarity with manufacturing processes, PCB assembly or supply chain work.
- Experience of a structured change control, ticketing or documentation system.
- Interest in audio, music technology or live sound.
Where This Role Goes:
We are hiring with a long view. The intention is to develop this position into a senior engineering role over the coming years, with a growing contribution to our advanced audio circuit design work.
What that means in practice:
- You will have named senior engineers responsible for supporting and reviewing your work, and regular time set aside for that.
- Your design content grows as your capability does. We expect the balance to shift meaningfully toward design work over your first few years.
- We support relevant training, professional development and chartership where it fits your goals.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary and benefits package.
- Unusual breadth of exposure for an early-career engineer: design, manufacture, supply chain and product support, on real products used at world-class venues and events.
- Mentoring from experienced audio hardware engineers, and access to specialist expertise across the Focusrite Group.
- Collaborative, creative environment within a family of respected music and audio technology brands.
- A vibrant workspace in Tileyard, King's Cross - London's hub for music, technology and creativity.
