Product Development Engineer

Job Description – Product Development Engineer (71021)

July 2026

Level II

About G2V Optics

G2V Optics is a global leader in advanced lighting technologies. Founded in 2015 based on technology invented at the U of A, the company now provides solutions to world-leading organizations (e.g. NASA, Meta, Tesla, NREL). They use our light to power the most critical developments in solar renewable energy, advanced materials, and space exploration.

We are an agile team that functions on a startup-style culture based on quick learning, honesty and personal development, flexibility, and balance. If you want to be part of a team that’s making a global impact from right here in Edmonton, join us.

Summary

The Product Development (PD) Engineer reports to the Product Development Manager – Core Engineering. This role moves products and projects from idea to customer — whether those customers are external buyers or internal stakeholders — by owning the full lifecycle of product development work within G2V’s gate process. The PD Engineer translates customer needs into clear requirements, manages timelines and risks with scenario awareness, validates engineering work through disciplined testing, and performs or coordinates technical work including paper models, simulations, proofs of concept, and prototypes. This role is the essential link between what customers need and what gets built. The PD Engineer manages the engineering work in a project, identifies and mitigates risks (internal or outsourced) and exercises the technical judgment and oversight needed to deliver on G2V’s commitments.

The role depends on clear, honest communication with teammates, stakeholders, customers, and vendors. Value and trust lie at the core of our internal and external customer commitments.

The Core Engineering functional area focuses on engineering the core components that build G2V’s products. This work emphasizes components that will be integrated into externally shipped customer products. Core Engineering encompasses a wide variety of engineering disciplines at G2V – electronics, firmware, thermal, mechanical, software, and optics.

This particular role will be the technical authority and lead engineer for the development and operations handoff of a source measurement unit product for scaled production.

Primary Responsibilities

• Engineering Testing & Oversight: Write test plans and test packages linked to requirements across all development phases. Define pass/fail criteria tied to specifications. Execute or coordinate test protocols and document results. Conduct right-scoped design reviews to catch issues early. Steward the gate process: ensure gate documentation is complete and that the business is making informed go/no-go decisions.


• Engineering Design: Translate requirements into buildable designs within their discipline (electrical, optical, mechanical, software, or cross-discipline). Perform or oversee design iterations: paper models, simulations, proofs of concept, prototypes, alpha builds. Define the right architecture with well-defined interfaces. Produce or review complete design files (BOM, schematics, CAD, code) at each iteration.


• Vendor & Stakeholder Management: Prepare release packages for vendors and internal stakeholders (requirements, specifications, design files, timeline context) — the same disciplined handoff applies whether work is going to an outside supplier or another team within G2V. Manage deliverables through budgetary approval and track against schedule. Conduct design reviews against requirements. Manage AI-assisted engineering in the same frame: specifying work, reviewing output, and validating results.


• Product Management: Build and maintain user story maps and requirements documentation. Engage with customers and internal stakeholders during gate reviews from ideation through delivery. Translate feedback into actionable requirements with traceability. Maintain living project documentation that tracks desirability, feasibility, and viability.


• Project Management: Maintain the project plan: schedule, dependency chains, risk contingency, and cost tracking. Manage the risk register. Think in scenarios — always know multiple paths through to delivery and present options with clear trade-offs between risk, timeline, and cost. Communicate project status to stakeholders grounded in data.


• Continuous Learning: Actively build new skills in tools, methods, and domain knowledge relevant to product development. Evaluate, adopt, and integrate new capabilities as they emerge (including AI tools and outsourcing options). Contribute to process improvements. Mentor less experienced team members. Practice version-controlled collaboration (git workflows, pull requests, releases).
  

Target Skills & Qualifications

The successful candidate will have:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or an equivalent combination of education and experience


• Demonstrated experience in a product development environment


• Understanding of, or strong aptitude and willingness to develop, product management fundamentals: user stories, requirements, stakeholder engagement, and maintaining the link between what’s being built and why


• Ability to manage project timelines, budgets, and risks — or demonstrated aptitude and willingness to develop these skills rapidly


• Strong written and verbal communication skills sufficient for requirements documentation, gate reviews, and stakeholder updates


• Technical depth in electrical engineering discipline sufficient to evaluate designs and conduct reviews


• Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to navigate uncertainty in early-stage product development


• Proficient in python scripting for hardware test automation and calibration - comfort with [control APIs, data manipulation, unit tests


• Experience managing vendors or outsourced engineering work

Assets (Nice to Have)

• Familiarity with user story mapping, requirements traceability, or structured product development processes


• Proficiency in version control, releases, and automated workflows (branches, PRs, preferably git)


• Cross-disciplinary literacy beyond primary specialty (optics, mechanical engineering, software engineering)


• Experience with AI-assisted engineering tools and workflows


• Project management certification or formal training


• APEGA registration: EIT or P.Eng, or eligible and actively working toward registration

Mandatory Employment Requirements

• International travel to customer sites as required, up to twice a year (5% of the role)