Staff Hardware Engineer (NFC Digital Key)

Location: Mountain View, California or Sunnyvale, California; hybrid attendance required at least 3 times per week. Travel is required for less than 25% of the role. The role may be eligible for relocation benefits.

Salary: $160,000–$250,000 annual base compensation, plus incentive pay potential.

Company

hirify.global develops automotive products and connectivity platforms, including Digital Key and wireless vehicle-access technologies.

What you will do

• Architect and define requirements for NFC readers, Secure Element and controller subsystems supporting passive entry, passive start, trunk access, and card or phone access.
• Lead schematic and PCB layout reviews, NFC coil design, tuning, packaging, and interaction with nearby metals and other radios.
• Bring up and debug Digital Key hardware in the lab, including calibration, power and clocking, reader front ends, and performance optimization.
• Develop NFC test plans covering field strength, load modulation, coupling, detuning, interoperability, timing margins, temperature, voltage, and mechanical conditions.
• Lead coexistence analysis across NFC, Qi, UWB, BLE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, and GNSS systems.
• Document architectures and test strategies, coordinate with cross-functional and supplier teams, and mentor wireless, RF, and hardware engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of relevant RF or wireless hardware experience.
• Experience delivering NFC-based Digital Key or similar access systems in automotive or consumer products.
• Experience with CCC Digital Key, NFC standards including ISO/IEC 14443, ISO/IEC 15693, and ISO/IEC 18092, and UWB ranging standards.
• Strong understanding of electromagnetic fundamentals, material properties, interference, coupling paths, NFC reader antenna and coil design, and automotive packaging.
• Ability to work in Mountain View or Sunnyvale, California, with hybrid attendance at least 3 times per week.

Nice to have

• Hands-on experience with UWB and BLE transceivers, ranging, link budgets, and RF front-end design.
• Experience with complex multi-radio board design reviews, bring-up, and debugging.
• Knowledge of cybersecurity and privacy considerations for secure vehicle access.
• Proficiency with RF test equipment and Python or another scripting language for test automation and data analysis.
• Contributions to patents, standards, or technical publications.

Culture & Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, HSA, FSA, retirement savings, life insurance, sickness and accident benefits, and employee assistance programs.
• Paid vacation and holidays, tuition assistance, and GM vehicle discounts.
• Eligibility for a company vehicle evaluation program after successful motor vehicle report review.
• Opportunity to work with vehicle-access, connectivity, cybersecurity, validation, manufacturing, antenna, software, and supplier teams.

Hiring process

• Applicants may be required to complete role-related assessments and pre-employment screening.