MANAGER - Electronics (EC) Makerspace

Role title - MANAGER - Electronics (EC) Makerspace

Location - Dayananda Sagar University, Bengaluru

Employment - Full-time

Education - B.Tech./B.E. in Electronics, ECE, EEE, Instrumentation, Embedded Systems, Mechatronics or a closely related discipline.

Experience - Minimum 5 years of relevant hands-on experience

Role purpose

Lead the Electronics (EC) Makerspace as a safe, well-utilized and outcome-driven facility. The role combines technical leadership with lab operations, capability building, vendor/asset governance and delivery of academic, research, startup and industry outcomes. The manager is expected to remain hands-on and able to guide or troubleshoot the core technology stack.

Key responsibilities

• Own day-to-day lab operations, staffing, schedules, access controls, SOPs, safety, asset uptime and learner experience for the assigned CoE.
• Translate the CoE roadmap into semester, monthly and weekly plans covering courses, workshops, prototypes, research, industry projects and demonstrations.
• Remain technically hands-on: review architectures and test plans, unblock complex builds, validate critical configurations and lead root-cause analysis.
• Manage equipment commissioning, acceptance testing, calibration, AMC/warranty, spares, consumables, software licences, vendor support and lifecycle planning.
• Work with CoE Heads, deans and faculty to embed the lab into curriculum, capstones, PG/PhD research and faculty development programs.
• Build a transparent pipeline of student projects, sponsored challenges, consultancy assignments, startup prototypes, publications, patents and deployments.
• Plan capacity and budget; track utilization, uptime, training throughput, project milestones, risks, blockers, cost and support required from leadership.
• Ensure documentation, data governance, IP/confidentiality, responsible technology use, cybersecurity and applicable EHS/compliance requirements.
• Coach instructors and student assistants; define competency matrices, cross-training plans, duty rosters and performance expectations.
• Coordinate industry/academic engagements without representing proposed relationships as confirmed partnerships unless formally approved.

Required hands-on equipment and infrastructure

The candidate must have practical depth in the core equipment below and sufficient working familiarity to supervise safe use across the wider lab inventory.

• ESD workstations, ESD mats/wrist straps, magnifying lamps and desk microscopes
• Soldering stations, hot-air rework stations, fume extractors and PCB holders/clamps
• Digital and handheld oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, function generators, spectrum analyser, LCR meters and logic analysers
• NI ELVIS engineering workstations, DC power supplies and PCB prototyping kits/CNC
• Arduino Uno/Nano, Raspberry Pi 5/Pico, ESP32, STM32 development and FPGA boards
• NVIDIA Jetson and Coral-class edge-AI devices; AI cameras, IoT and sensor kits
• Bluetooth/Wi-Fi, GSM/GPS modules, JTAG/ST-Link debuggers, breadboards, wiring and mechanical prototyping kits

Required hands-on software and platforms

• PCB CAD and circuit-simulation tools appropriate to the installed lab environment
• Arduino IDE, PlatformIO, STM32Cube tools and FPGA vendor toolchains
• Embedded C/C++, Python, serial/logic/network analysis and firmware-debugging tools
• MATLAB/Simulink or equivalent modelling and signal-processing tools
• Git-based source control and issue/change documentation
• JetPack, CUDA, TensorRT, DeepStream, TAO Toolkit and Isaac ROS for edge-AI projects, where applicable

Core technical capability

• Schematic reading, circuit assembly, soldering/rework, PCB bring-up and root-cause troubleshooting
• Use of oscilloscopes, analysers, meters, power supplies and DAQ with correct measurement practice
• Microcontroller/FPGA programming, sensors, communication buses, IoT connectivity and firmware debugging
• ESD controls, electrical safety, component traceability, calibration and consumable inventory management
• Ability to support projects such as smart cameras, energy-monitoring devices, PCB inspection, medical wearables, predictive-maintenance nodes, secure IoT gateways and product-ready embedded prototypes.

Experience profile

• 5+ years in a relevant laboratory, R&D, engineering, product-development, manufacturing, technology-services or industry-training environment.
• Evidence of leading a lab, technical team, project portfolio, equipment installation/commissioning or multi-stakeholder delivery.
• Experience with vendor coordination, AMC/warranty, procurement inputs, budgeting, inventory and utilization reporting.
• Track record of moving technical work from setup/experiment to validated prototype, deployment, publication, patent, consultancy or sponsored outcome.

Behavioural capabilities

• Demonstrated bias for safe, hands-on execution and patient learner support
• Clear written documentation and concise technical communication
• Ownership, reliability and ability to work across academic and industry stakeholders
• Comfort working in a multidisciplinary, build-test-learn environment
• Ethical handling of data, equipment, access, IP and safety responsibilities

Success measures

• Lab uptime, scheduled-session readiness and closure time for equipment/software incidents
• Utilization by students, faculty, research scholars, startups and approved industry/project teams
• Learners trained and independently certified/assessed on relevant equipment and workflows
• Number and quality of validated prototypes, research projects, industry challenges and deployments delivered on time
• Preventive maintenance, calibration, licence, inventory, safety and audit compliance
• Budget/consumable control, vendor responsiveness and transparent reporting of risks, blockers and support required
• Capability growth of instructors, student assistants and faculty users