Senior PCBA Design Engineer

Apptronik•Sunnyvale, CA

About The Position

Apptronik is seeking a Senior ECAD Designer to own PCB schematic capture and layout in Altium Designer, with particular depth in power electronics and high-speed digital design. The role takes boards from architecture and stack-up definition through layout, applying design-for-manufacturability (DFM), signal integrity, power integrity, and EMC best practices. The engineer partners with electrical, mechanical, thermal, and manufacturing teams to deliver reliable, production-ready designs on schedule. The position includes designing mixed-signal, power, and high-speed digital boards; defining stack-ups, layer counts, and materials; designing power delivery networks; implementing controlled-impedance and differential-pair routing; supporting fabrication and assembly decisions; and addressing EMC/EMI risks. It also includes maintaining design rules and libraries, creating manufacturing documentation and outputs, supporting design releases in the product lifecycle management system, and mentoring other designers. The role may involve discussions with ECAD software vendors under the oversight of the electrical engineering manager. The role requires a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience and at least five years of PCB schematic capture and layout design experience. The annual salary range is $205,000–$220,000. This is a direct-hire position.

Requirements

Expert-level proficiency in Altium Designer for schematic capture and PCB layout, including rule-driven design, layer-stack management, and library administration.
Demonstrated experience designing and laying out power electronics, including DC/DC converters, power planes, bus bars or high-current traces, thermal management, and power protection schemes such as fusing and current limiting.
Demonstrated experience with high-speed digital layout, including impedance-controlled routing, differential pairs, length matching, via optimization, and stack-up design for GHz-class interfaces.
Working knowledge of signal integrity and power integrity concepts and how layout decisions affect them.
Solid understanding of DFM/DFA principles and hands-on experience working directly with fabrication houses and contract manufacturers.
Practical knowledge of EMC/EMI layout mitigation techniques, including grounding, shielding, plane splits, and filtering placement.
Familiarity with IPC standards.
Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to produce clear design documentation and communicate tradeoffs to cross-functional stakeholders.
Ability to manage multiple concurrent design projects and mentor or provide work direction to other designers.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment and make practical decisions about when a design is sufficiently robust for production.
Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience.
At least 5 years of experience in PCB schematic capture and layout design.

Nice To Haves

Experience collaborating with SI/PI engineers or conducting basic signal integrity or power integrity simulation and analysis.
IPC Certified Interconnect Designer (CID) or CID+ certification.
Experience with flex, rigid-flex, or HDI/microvia design.

Responsibilities

Perform schematic capture and PCB layout for mixed-signal, power, and high-speed digital boards.
Define PCB stack-ups, layer counts, and material selections to meet electrical, thermal, and cost targets.
Design and route power delivery networks for DC/DC converters, power switching circuits, and bus or rail distribution, considering current capacity, copper weight, thermal reliefs, and power integrity.
Implement controlled-impedance routing, differential-pair routing, length matching and tuning, and via strategies for high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, DDR, USB, Ethernet, LVDS, and SerDes.
Apply DFM and DFA practices and work with PCB fabricators and contract manufacturers on design rule checks, panelization, tolerancing, and yield and cost tradeoffs.
Apply grounding, shielding, filtering, and layer-stack techniques to mitigate EMI/EMC risk; support pre-compliance and regulatory testing as needed.
Design and document to relevant IPC standards and internal design rules; maintain and evolve design rule sets, layer-stack templates, and library standards.
Generate manufacturing outputs, including Gerbers, drill files, BOMs, fabrication drawings, and assembly drawings, as well as design documentation and constraint files.
Support engineers with design releases in the product lifecycle management system.
Create and maintain Altium schematic symbols, PCB footprints, and component library data in accordance with company library standards and part-lifecycle requirements.
Collaborate with electrical, mechanical, thermal, and manufacturing engineers; participate in design reviews and provide early layout feasibility input.
Drive discussions with ECAD software vendors about renewals, product selections, and software bugs, with oversight from the electrical engineering manager.
Mentor junior and mid-level designers on layout practices, documentation standards, and Altium tools.
Manage multiple concurrent design projects and provide work direction to other designers.