Senior PCB Designer

Vector Atomic•Pleasanton, CA

About The Position

Vector Atomic, an IonQ company, is seeking a Senior PCB Designer to collaborate with engineers and physicists on custom PCBs for precision sensor systems and other R&D initiatives and commercial products. The role develops schematics, footprints, component placement, and signal routing for multilayer PCBAs with digital, analog, and power circuits, and supports their fabrication, assembly, testing, and revision. The designer works directly with engineering teams, fabricators, and assembly vendors, and maintains design files and documentation in the PLM system. Candidates need a technical degree, relevant certification, or equivalent hands-on industry or military experience, along with 5–8 years of professional PCB layout experience that includes PCBA fabrication and manufacturing support. The position requires U.S. status qualifying under applicable export control laws. The approximate base salary range is $130,000–$155,000 per year; total compensation includes base salary, bonus, equity, and benefits.

Requirements

Technical degree, relevant certification, or equivalent hands-on industry or military experience.
5–8 years of professional PCB layout experience, including PCBA fabrication and manufacturing support.
Strong understanding of PCB layout fundamentals, including component placement, routing, planes, and vias.
Comfort working in a laboratory environment.
U.S. citizenship, lawful U.S. permanent residency, or qualifying refugee or asylee status to comply with U.S. export control laws.
Understanding of grounding strategies and power routing in practical PCB design.
Strong background in general electronics and electronic systems.
Experience working with laboratory instrumentation and electronic test equipment.
Proficiency with modern PCB design tools; Altium Designer is preferred.
Experience designing high-density layouts with HDI requirements and multilayer boards.
Deep knowledge of PCB fabrication processes and manufacturing documentation.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing boards with controlled impedance, including differential pair routing and tight length-matching requirements.
Background in mixed-signal or low-noise analog circuit design environments.
Curiosity and motivation to expand knowledge of electronics fundamentals.
IPC certifications related to electronics or PCB design.
Experience designing to or updating documentation for RoHS, CE, EMI/EMC, or UL compliance.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with design engineers and physicists to develop custom PCBs for precision sensor systems.
Review design requirements and develop schematics, custom footprints, component placement, and signal routing for multilayer PCBAs containing digital, analog, and power circuits.
Apply established design rules and define PCB layer stack-ups and via strategies.
Update layouts based on feedback from engineering design reviews.
Perform BOM scrubbing, resolve DRC issues, and review designs for manufacturability.
Prepare fabrication and assembly documentation, including BOMs, Gerber/ODB++ files, drill files, and manufacturing drawings.
Work with PCB fabricators and assembly vendors to address build questions and resolve parts procurement issues.
Maintain organized design files, libraries, and documentation within the PLM system and support PCB revisions and engineering change orders (ECOs).
Collaborate with test engineers on board bring-up, troubleshooting, and validation.