Sr. Manufacturing PCBA Design & SMT Fab DFX Engineer

BLUE ORIGIN•Cupertino, CA

8d•$156,802 - $219,522

About The Position

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of Blue Origin Operations, which is comprised of Integrated Supply Chain, Test Operations, Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance. This includes Manufacturing and Supply Chain support across all Blue Origin facilities. Blue Origin's Emerging Systems business unit is building TeraWave, a satellite communications constellation powered by the most advanced optical communications architecture ever attempted: thousands of optically interconnected satellites delivering symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth, providing enterprise and hyperscale customers with resilient, scalable connectivity for critical operations where terrestrial infrastructure cannot reach. As a Senior Manufacturing PCBA Design & SMT Fab DFX Engineer, you will own the end-to-end manufacturing design integration of TeraWave PCBA modules — bridging high-speed PCB layout, SMT fabrication processes, and volume production readiness. As a foundational element of TeraWave operations, hardware must be architected not only for performance but for manufacturability, testability, reliability, and serviceability at constellation scale. This is a hands-on role for an engineer who has designed, fabricated, and shipped complex electronic assemblies in fast-moving, high-volume manufacturing environments and wants to apply that experience to hardware operating at orbital scale.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
10+ years of experience in PCBA design, SMT manufacturing, or hardware design in a product development and volume production environment.
Experience designing multi-layer PCBs with high-speed digital interfaces and mixed-signal power distribution; proficiency in Altium, Cadence, or equivalent.
Hands-on experience with SMT fabrication processes, including stencil design, reflow, AOI/X-ray inspection, and line bring-up.
Hands-on experience designing and integrating high-speed Ethernet switch hardware, including network processors (NPUs), SerDes interfaces, and optical or copper PHY technologies.
Demonstrated application of DFX principles (DFM/DFT/DFA/DFR) in bringing PCBAs from design into volume production.
Excellent technical documentation and communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Electrical, Computer, or Manufacturing Engineering.
15+ years of relevant experience.
IPC certification (e.g., IPC-A-610, IPC-7711/7721) or equivalent SMT/assembly standards expertise.
Experience with radiation effects on electronics (SEE, TID, displacement damage) and mitigation techniques.
Experience designing and manufacturing electronics for space, aviation, or other high-reliability thermal-vacuum environments.
Experience with FPGA or ASIC integration in board management or data-path contexts.
Background in production hardware including comprehensive DFX practices (DFM/DFT/DFA/DFR), SMT process optimization, supply chain coordination, and yield optimization at scale.
Hands-on environmental qualification testing (TVAC, vibration, EMI/EMC).

Responsibilities

Lead multi-layer PCBA design for switch line cards: stackup definition, impedance-controlled routing, thermal management, and manufacturability-driven layout.
Own SMT fabrication process development — including panelization, solder paste stencil design, reflow profiles, and component placement optimization — to ensure robust, repeatable assembly.
Manage CCA BOM procurement, vendor coordination, SMT line qualification, and assembly oversight.
Drive first-article inspection, process validation, and manufacturing readiness reviews to support production ramp.
Drive Design for Excellence (DFX) principles — DFM, DFT, DFA, DFR, and DFS — across the full PCBA and SMT fabrication lifecycle to ensure hardware scales from prototype through volume production for TeraWave operations.
Design for Manufacturability (DFM): Optimize PCB stackups, component footprints, land patterns, and SMT assembly processes to maximize yield and minimize cost at constellation-scale production volumes.
Design for Test (DFT): Architect built-in test structures, boundary scan (JTAG), test points, ICT fixtures, and automated test coverage to enable efficient factory acceptance and in-field diagnostics.
Design for Assembly (DFA): Simplify component placement, connector selection, and mechanical integration to reduce assembly time, rework, and error rates on the SMT line.
Design for Reliability (DFR): Apply derating, worst-case circuit analysis, FMEA, solder joint reliability analysis, and reliability prediction to ensure long-duration operation in the orbital environment.
Design for Serviceability/Supply Chain (DFS): Coordinate with supply chain and manufacturing partners to drive component standardization, second-sourcing strategies, and obsolescence mitigation across the production lifecycle.
Partner with manufacturing, quality, and supply chain teams to define acceptance criteria, drive yield optimization, and support production ramp for sustained TeraWave operations.