Hardware Test Technician - Lab Manager
Life360 · Fremont, California, United States
About Life360
Life360’s mission is to keep people close to the ones they love. Our category-leading mobile app, Tile tracking devices, and Pet GPS tracker empower members to protect the people, pets, and things they care about most with a range of services, including location sharing, safe driver reports, and crash detection with emergency dispatch. Life360 serves approximately 102.4 million monthly active users (MAU), as of June 30, 2026, across more than 180 countries.
Life360 delivers peace of mind and enhances everyday family life with seamless coordination for all the moments that matter, big and small. By continuing to innovate and deliver for our customers, we have become a household name and the must-have mobile-based membership for families (and those friends who are basically family).
Life360 has more than 500 (and growing!) employees. For more information, please visit life360.com.
We are AI Native
We are building an AI native company where AI is an integral part of how we build and operate. AI tool usage during interviews varies by role. You may be asked to demonstrate proficiency with AI tools, discuss how you leverage AI, or complete interview exercises without AI assistance. Your Recruiter will provide clear guidance as you move through the interview process.
Undisclosed use of AI not previously discussed with or approved by your Recruiter may impact your candidacy.
About The Team
The Devices team at Life360 is responsible for building the connected hardware experiences that bring families closer to the people, pets, and things they care about. As we grow our ecosystem with first-party and third-party hardware, we are investing in expanding the capabilities for Life360's family safety platform. Our goal is to dramatically expand the number of connected devices in family circles, deepening engagement and driving subscription growth across our 102.4 million monthly active users.
About the Job
We're looking for an experienced Hardware Test Technician to run our hardware test lab and support the engineering team across everything it takes to ship reliable consumer devices — test execution, soldering and rework, quality and returns analysis, and the logistics that keep it all moving.
This is the team's first dedicated Hardware Test Technician. You'll run the lab day to day, work side by side with our electrical, RF, and validation engineers, and help the team scale. You'll report to the Director of Hardware Engineering.
This is an on-site role based in Fremont. Life360 is otherwise a remote-first company, but this is a physical lab job.
You'll own the lab end to end: the instruments, the fixtures, the test records, and the returns queue. In your first year, test results are traceable, and field returns are triaged, trended, and handed to engineering with a likely cause. New capabilities have been built out, and we have a roadmap to keep expanding them over the next year.
The devices business is growing fast, so the standards you set for testing, quality, and returns are the ones the team builds on.
The US-based salary range for this position is $115,000 to $135,000 USD. We take into consideration an individual's background, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience in determining final salary. Base pay may also vary based on geographic location, with US work locations falling into one of three geographic tiers.
Total compensation is inclusive of equity compensation in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), as well as a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, financial, and other benefits.
What You’ll Do
Run the Test Lab Day to Day
- Set up devices and execute the test sequences the engineers define — spanning electrical and power, functional, wireless, environmental, and product-reliability testing — logging results cleanly and consistently.
- Watch for anomalies and flag them early, with enough detail for the engineers to act on.
- Keep test records and data organized so results are easy to trace and trust.
- Own the facility: keep equipment working and calibrated, maintain stock of parts, drive purchase of new equipment and capabilities, and manage services and deliveries.
Drive Quality and Returns Analysis
- Triage and root-cause customer and field returns — reproduce the failure, find the likely cause, log and trend what you see, and route deeper analysis to the engineers.
- Run defect analysis on units in development and production, and help hold the quality bar.
- Connect production quality and customer quality, tying what fails in the field back to what we build.
Build, Solder, and Maintain
- Build test fixtures, jigs, and cabling to hold and connect devices under test.
- Do precise hand soldering and small-board rework: this is core to the products we make.
- Own the lab's ESD program and the safe handling, storage, and disposal of batteries and other materials.
Design for Repeatable, Automated Testing
- Specify and design custom test fixtures, interfaces, and instrumentation clusters that make testing more repeatable and more automated.
- Use AI tools to help build test harnesses that talk to devices and instruments, and to create and run automated test sequences.
- Look for ways to turn slow, manual test steps into reliable, repeatable ones, then build those solutions and share them with the larger team.
Handle Samples, Shipments, and Test Programs
- Track devices and samples under test; prep and ship units to outside labs and partners.
- Manage device movements and logistics for the team.
- Support material and beta programs — keeping parts, samples, and units organized and accounted for.
Help the Team Scale Safely
- Keep the lab organized, safe, and ready to use so the team can effectively work.
- Drive continuous improvement of the lab setup with improved setups, processes, and documentation.
- Be the dependable generalist the team leans on to get the physical work done well.
What We’re Looking For
Foundation
- Several years of hands-on experience in an electronics or hardware test lab; consumer electronics is a plus.
- Associate degree in electronics, electrical engineering technology, or a related field — or equivalent hands-on experience.
- Self-directed and organized, with the judgment to run a lab day to day without close supervision.
- Careful and safety-minded, with strong documentation and data-logging habits.
- Clear communicator who shares findings and flags problems early, in a form engineers can act on.
- Curious about failures, following a breakage to its root cause.
- Some familiarity with AI tools and a willingness to learn — you'll be encouraged to use AI (e.g., Claude Code) to build test harnesses and automate testing. Deep AI experience isn't required.
Hands-On Lab Skills
- Excellent hand soldering and small-board rework — a strength, not just a familiarity. Capable with BGA, QFN, and fine pitch component packages down to 0201/01005, and of complex rework and PCB modifications.
- Comfortable with standard bench instruments: oscilloscopes, multimeters, power analyzers, and power supplies.
- Test-fixture and cable building, with the mechanical aptitude to make things fit and work.
- Light scripting for data capture and test automation, and the test-fixture design to support it.
- ESD-safe practice and careful handling of sensitive components.
Product Testing
- Electrical and power measurement — checking supply rails and current draw with oscilloscopes, meters, and power supplies, and profiling power and battery drain (e.g., with a DC power analyzer).
- Battery testing — charge/discharge cycling, capacity checks, and safe handling of lithium cells and packs.
- ESD testing and ESD-controlled handling.
- Basic mechanical and environmental tests — setting up and running drop, temperature/humidity, and thermal-cycling sequences, and logging results cleanly.
- Continuity checks and component-level troubleshooting, readin