PCB Design Engineer

Senior Staff PCB Design Engineer – L4

Collabera is looking for 2 Senior Staff PCB Design Engineers to join its growing Factory 2 team. This is a highly hands-on engineering role focused on the physical design, layout, electrical modeling, and optimization of high-performance test-chip PCBs. The engineer will spend approximately 70% of their time on hands-on PCB layout/design and 30% on electrical modeling and model extraction. Day-to-day work will include opening PCB designs in EDA tools, reviewing layouts and layer stack-ups, working within design constraints, placing components, routing designs, and performing electrical model extraction to evaluate signal and power performance. This is an individual-contributor position with no people-management responsibilities. However, the engineer must be technically senior enough to assess PCB architectures, identify potential issues, challenge or push back on proposed approaches when appropriate, and provide technically sound alternatives and recommendations. The role also involves supporting customers in understanding architectural and implementation trade-offs. Formal customer-facing experience is not required, but strong communication skills and the ability to translate complex technical issues into practical recommendations are important.

This is a net-new position supporting clients' Factory 2 team as the organization expands its capacity for high-performance test-chip PCB design and engineering support.

Day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Perform hands-on physical PCB design and layout using computer-based PCB/EDA design tools.
• Review PCB layouts, architecture, layer stack-ups, component placement, routing, and design constraints.
• Assess PCB architectures and determine whether proposed designs will meet technical and electrical requirements.
• Provide recommendations and alternative solutions when architectural or design changes are required.
• Perform component placement and routing for complex PCB designs.
• Work with PCB layer stack-ups and tool-specific design constraints.
• Perform electrical model extraction from PCB designs.
• Analyze the Power Delivery Network (PDN) to determine whether the design meets power-integrity requirements.
• Perform or support Signal Integrity (SI) and Power Integrity (PI) analysis.
• Use tools such as Ansys HFSS, SIwave, or comparable industry-standard electromagnetic/modeling tools.
• Import and integrate 3D models supplied by vendors or other engineering teams into larger system models.
• Validate extracted models and use modeling results to guide physical PCB design decisions.
• Support early-stage architecture decisions, including routing channels, stack-up decisions, and implementation trade-offs.
• Work directly with customers to understand what they are trying to accomplish and recommend appropriate technical solutions.
• Coordinate with internal engineering teams, customers, and external partners throughout the PCB design workflow.
• Troubleshoot complex PCB design and integration issues and develop practical engineering solutions.
• Provide regular updates regarding design progress, technical risks, dependencies, and recommended actions.

Must haves include:

• 8+ years of professional relevant engineering experience.
• Ideally 5+ years/extensive hands-on experience with high-speed PCB physical design and layout.
• Strong experience reviewing and working with PCB architecture, layer stack-ups, component placement, routing, and design constraints.
• Ability to independently open PCB design tools, evaluate layouts, identify problems, and make design recommendations.
• Strong understanding of circuit and transmission-line theory and the ability to apply theory to real-world PCB design decisions.
• Experience with electrical modeling and/or model extraction from PCB designs.
• Understanding of Signal Integrity (SI) and Power Integrity (PI) concepts.
• Experience with industry-standard PCB design and/or electrical modeling tools. Equivalent tools are acceptable.
• Ability to assess architecture, challenge design decisions when necessary, and provide technically sound alternatives and recommendations.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex engineering concepts and recommendations to customers and cross-functional teams.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Equivalent technical experience may also be considered where the candidate demonstrates a strong understanding of both engineering theory and practical application.

Nice to haves include:

• Experience/knowledge of Ansys HFSS or comparable 3D electromagnetic modeling tools.
• Experience/knowledge of Ansys SIwave for power-delivery-network and power-integrity analysis.
• Approximately 5 years of experience working with relevant PCB design or modeling tools.
• Strong Power Integrity (PI) experience.
• Strong Signal Integrity (SI) experience.
• 3D electromagnetic modeling experience.
• Experience importing third-party/vendor 3D models and integrating them into larger electrical models.
• Experience supporting high-performance semiconductor or test-chip PCB designs.
• Previous semiconductor or closely related industry experience.
• Experience evaluating architecture and providing customers with design trade-offs and recommendations.
• Experience working across both Windows and Linux engineering environments.