Sr. Electronics & Firmware Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Location: Houston, Texas

Position status: Full-Time

Exempt Status: Exempt

Company Profile:

CNPC USA is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Company and serves as the North American headquarters. Our mission is to drive innovation through advanced research and development of next-generation technologies for oil and gas exploration and production.

Job Summary:

CNPC USA is seeking a highly experienced Senior Electronics & Firmware Engineer to lead the design, development, and qualification of high-temperature electronics and embedded firmware for MWD/LWD systems. This position is a key technical role responsible for downhole electronic architecture, high-temperature circuit design, power management, sensor interfacing, and electronics reliability in extreme drilling environments.

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience developing electronics rated ≥175 &degree;C (preferably up to 200 &degree;C) for MWD/LWD tools, with a strong understanding of downhole constraints such as shock, vibration, pressure, and thermal cycling. This role will directly support technology maturation from concept through field deployment and commercialization.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and validate electrical and electronic systems for MWD downhole tools and surface support equipment.
• Develop, test, and debug embedded firmware for microcontroller, microprocessor, or DSP-based systems used in downhole measurement and telemetry applications.
• Design and evaluate analog and digital circuitry, including signal conditioning, power distribution, sensor interfaces, and communication interfaces.
• Support the development of ruggedized electronics for high-temperature, high-shock, high-vibration downhole environments.
• Participate in system integration, troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and performance optimization of tool electronics and firmware.
• Define and execute design verification, qualification, reliability, and environmental test programs.
• Support manufacturing test, engineering test setups, and service quality assurance for product release and sustainment.
• Work closely with mechanical, firmware, test, operations, and field teams to improve tool reliability and field performance.
• Contribute to documentation including schematics, interface definitions, test procedures, failure analysis reports, and design records.
• Support field failures and product sustainment, including investigation of telemetry, sensor, and electronics issues.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Embedded Systems, or related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in electronics and embedded firmware development; for lead-level roles.
• Hands-on experience with embedded firmware development in C/C++ for MCU, MPU, or DSP-based systems.
• Strong knowledge of analog and digital circuit design, schematic capture, component selection, and board-level debugging.
• Experience with signal conditioning, communication interfaces, power electronics/power distribution, and hardware-software integration.
• Experience developing products for harsh environments, ideally including downhole, oilfield, aerospace, defense, or industrial ruggedized systems.
• Familiarity with laboratory validation tools such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, environmental test setups, and automated test methods.
• Strong troubleshooting and root-cause analysis capability for mixed hardware/firmware systems..

Preferred Experience:

• Experience with MWD/LWD, mud-pulse telemetry, EM telemetry, directional drilling tools, or downhole sensors.
• Familiarity with high-temperature electronics, shock/vibration survivability, and pressure-compensated or sealed downhole systems.
• Experience with manufacturing test systems, qualification testing, and product commercialization.
• Knowledge of sensor integration, downhole measurement systems, and embedded diagnostics.
• Prior experience supporting both new product development and sustaining engineering for deployed tools..

Work Environment:

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets, and fax machines.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential job functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. This is a sedentary role; however, some filing, bending and the ability to lift 20lbs is required.

Travel:

This position requires some overnight international and domestic travel. Local travel between other CNPC USA locations and testing facilities is required.

Supervisory Responsibility:

This position has no direct supervisory responsibilities, however, it does act as a mentor and point of contact for less experienced engineers.

CNPC USA is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). Qualified applicants are considered regardless of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, ethnicity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.

Disclaimer: The job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities and activities may change or be assigned at any time with or without notice.