Design for Test (DFT) Engineer

We are hiring experienced Design for Test (DFT) Engineers in Boise, ID. You will be embedded with our R&D product design engineers, shaping how our next generation of products is built so manufacturability and testability are built in from the start. This role is about supporting Manufacturing; you are Manufacturing's advocate inside product design, ensuring every product is designed to be tested and built reliably at scale. It is a role for engineers who have experience building and testing products and can partner closely with the design team and the manufacturing team.

Why This Work Matters

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories exists to make electric power safer, more reliable, and more economical. Our devices must respond to system faults within milliseconds—to ensure safety, avoid damage, and minimize outages. Hundreds of utilities and millions of industrial, commercial, and residential consumers depend on SEL products every day.

Testability is not something you bolt on at the end—it is designed in. The best test coverage, the fastest fault isolation, and the smoothest ramp to production all start with decisions made during product design. As a DFT Engineer, you are the voice of test inside the design team, and that voice carries weight only when it is backed by experience. You will draw on a career of hands-on test and design work to ensure quality and manufacturability are considered from concept through release.

What You Will Do

The work is upstream, collaborative, and highly leveraged—the choices you influence during design ripple through every unit we build and every product we support in the field. You will sit with product design engineers, review schematics and layouts, and advocate for testability while the design is still on the bench.

• Partner with R&D product design engineers throughout the design cycle, providing Design for Test guidance from concept through release to manufacturing
• Review schematics, board layouts, and architectures to ensure test access, coverage, and fault isolation—test points, boundary scan/JTAG, built-in self-test, and diagnostic strategies
• Develop and maintain DFT guidelines, standards, and design-rule checklists, and help design teams adopt them
• Model and estimate test coverage early, identifying gaps before a board is ever fabricated
• Serve as the bridge between R&D and our manufacturing test engineering teams, ensuring designs transition smoothly into production test systems
• Collaborate on test strategy and requirements so that flying probe, bed-of-nails / in-circuit test (ICT), and functional test systems can be built efficiently for each new product
• Assist with developing flying probe and bed-of-nails in-circuit test (ICT) programs for our SPEA 4080 and Keysight i3070 systems
• Analyze field and production test data to close the loop—feeding lessons learned back into design practices and DFT standards
• Evaluate and champion emerging DFT methods, tools, and technologies across the engineering organization

Because you work at the design stage, your impact is broad and directly serves Manufacturing: you help ensure that products are right—testable, diagnosable, and manufacturable—so the factory can build them reliably, at volume, and with the coverage to catch defects early.

This role is based in Boise, with occasional travel to our US-based manufacturing locations to stay close to the production floor and the teams who build our products.

This Role Might Be For You If:

• You have a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering Technology, or equivalent
• You have several years of hands-on experience in electronics test development, board-level design, or a closely related discipline
• You have a deep understanding of analog and digital electronics, schematics, and board-level design
• You have influenced design decisions before and can carry an argument on technical merit with people who own the design
• You can hold both perspectives—what the designer needs and what the factory needs—and find solutions that serve both
• You care about quality and build it in from the start rather than inspect it in at the end

Even Better If

• You have direct experience with DFT practices, test coverage analysis, or design-for-manufacturability in electronics
• You have hands-on experience with boundary scan/JTAG, built-in self-test, or in-circuit test (ICT) and functional test development
• You have worked with flying probe, bed-of-nails, or functional test systems and understand what makes a board easy—or hard—to test
• You have knowledge of power systems protection products
• You have exposure to programming (Python, C, or similar)
• You have a background in firmware development for embedded test or self-test applications

Why SEL

Your work has purpose. Our customers rely on our products to keep critical systems fully operational—and we stand behind them 100 percent. By concentrating on our purpose, we continue to build our service to the electric power industry worldwide.

You own what you build. SEL is 100% employee-owned. There are no outside shareholders and no pressure to chase a quarter. When the company succeeds, you share directly in that success through our Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

You are trusted with hard problems. Experienced engineers do their best work where they are given real ownership and the room to exercise judgment. We put the people closest to the work in charge of improving it, and we back that with long-term investment in our engineers rather than short-term churn.

It is built to last. SEL has manufactured in the United States since 1984, through every cycle the industry has seen. We view our role in the electric power industry with a long-term perspective, which parallels the longevity of our products—and the tenure of the people who build them.

Position in Boise, ID

Boise is Idaho's capital and largest city, offering the amenities of a growing metro with quick access to the outdoors. The Boise River and its greenbelt run through the heart of downtown, the foothills and the Ridge to Rivers trail system put hiking and mountain biking minutes from the office, and Bogus Basin offers skiing a short drive away. A vibrant downtown, a strong food and arts scene, good schools, and Boise State University round out a quality of life that draws engineers and families alike.

Competitive pay. Superior benefits. Inspiring work.

People are at the core of our company and we hire employee-owners. We welcome you to learn more about how we support employees.

• We’re 100% employee owned. Retirement benefits include an employer funded stock ownership plan (ESOP) and personal 401(k) options.

• We offer top tier medical, prescription, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.

• We recognize the importance of a healthy life balance and offer: 10 paid holidays, annual vacation accrual starting at 12 days, 9 paid sick days, and paid family and medical leave that covers 90% of your pay.

• We foster growth and development of our employees through avenues such as STEM courses, apprenticeships, tuition assistance, and engineering development programs.  

• Ask our team about other benefits including wellness, fertility, adoption, and flexible spending benefits.

Pay Range Data:

$84,200 -$124,500 per year for the Associate Test Engineer position
$97,700-$144,400 per year for the Test Engineer position
$115,300-$170,400 per year for the Lead Test Engineer position

Our compensation ranges are based on the responsibilities of the role. Starting pay is determined individually and considers factors such as relevant experience, skills, knowledge, and training. Candidates may be considered at different levels based on their background. As a result, pay may vary to align with the level of the role.

Communication with Applicants 

We communicate with all applicants. If you do not receive a response about your application, please check your SPAM filter or reach out to us at [email protected].

SEL is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Vets/Disabled.