Platform HW Competitive Analysis Engineer

Role: Platform HW Competitive Analysis Engineer 12 Months Contract Location: Austin, TX (onsite/hybrid) Job Duties: 1. Board Analysis: o Analyze CPU/APU/GPU printed circuit boards (PCBs) from various vendors and systems, including notebooks, PC motherboards, and GPU cards. o Identify electrical components and use reverse engineering techniques to understand board topology, architecture, power tree, and key interfaces. 2. Bill of Materials (BOM) Estimation: o Collaborate with component engineers to create estimated BOM files, identifying components with unclear traits. o Utilize the internal cost database to estimate board costs and compare with internal/customer designs. 3. PCB Stack-Up Analysis: o Engage with PCB delamination shops for stack-up analysis, identifying high-speed interfaces and dielectric materials. o Analyze vias, pad stacks, and trace geometries to determine competitor chip ball-out for key interfaces. 4. Power Instrumentation: o Conduct power instrumentation on boards using standardized benchmarks to measure system efficiency. o Measure incoming and output power across various ASIC rails. 5. Reporting and Recommendations: o Prepare reports highlighting cost differences and design/architecture features affecting cost. o Provide recommendations for future competitive platform designs. Candidate Requirements: • Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering. • 3-5 years of experience in platform hardware design/analysis. • Proficiency in high-speed digital interfaces (e.g., LPDDR, GDDR, PCIe, USB, DP, eDP, HDMI, SPI, eSPI). • Experience with complex PCB and system assemblies using FFC/custom cables and interfaces. • Familiarity with PCB BOM cost optimization through design simplification while maintaining functionality and reliability. • Experience collaborating with silicon vendors and suppliers for cost-effective design solutions. • Previous experience in competitive BOM analysis and benchmarking power/efficiency/performance is a plus.