PCB Designer (Starship) Verified today
PCB Designer (Starship)
The Starship team builds some of the most advanced electronics ever flown in space at unprecedented cost and rate. As a PCB Designer, you'll create layouts for in-house board designs, partnering closely with Hardware Development Engineers. You'll provide expertise at each design review and iterate to deliver the best solutions across diverse design challenges from radio phased arrays to power converters.
What you'll do
- Determine layer stack-up, perform component package selection, component placement, routing feasibility studies, and signal routing of digital, analog, RF, and power conversion circuits
- Perform multilayer PCB layout (20+ layers), including component placement, high-speed routing (differential pairs, length matching), controlled impedance, and power/ground plane design
- Conduct pre- and post-layout SI/PI simulations to mitigate crosstalk, reflections, and EMI/EMC issues
- Perform DRC/ERC checks, peer reviews, and design audits; collaborate with hardware and firmware engineers for functional validation and prototype bring-up
- Produce fabrication deliverables (Gerber, ODB++, IPC-2581, drill files, stack-up drawings, assembly files)
- Analyze designs for manufacturability; incorporate production feedback from fabrication houses and assembly partners to reduce costs and improve yield
- Collaborate with internal teams and PCB vendors to improve design rules, constraints, and design for test and manufacture guidelines
- Customize and verify symbols, footprints, and 3D models; interface with PCB librarians for new parts
- Work with mechanical, thermal, RF, and test engineers on stack-up planning, thermal vias, shielding, and enclosure integration
- Assist librarians in creating, updating, and maintaining PCB component libraries including symbols, footprints, 3D STEP models, and parametric data in Altium and Xpedition
- Drive custom AI tools to improve the efficiency of PCB design tasks
Requirements
Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering OR 3+ years of professional PCB layout experience (internships and project work count).
Preferred experience
- 2+ years PCB layout and routing with modern passive and active components, surface-mount, RF components, ball-grid array, or high pin density
- 1+ years with ECAD libraries and library configuration management
- Design for manufacturability, assembly, and test
- Mentor Xpedition and/or Altium Designer (Xpedition preferred)
- Mixed analog and digital designs, high speed buses, FPGA, DRAM, CPU designs, power supplies, DC-DC converters, transmission lines, impedance-controlled traces
- Generating fabrication outputs and DFM/DFA analysis
- Component placement and interconnectivity visualization
- Python, Altium/Xpedition scripting, or similar automation for library tasks and validation
- Cross-functional project management and collaboration with other engineering disciplines
- Fast-paced, autonomously driven startup environment
- Excellent verbal and written communication
Compensation
PCB Designer Level I: $100,000 - $140,000 per year
PCB Designer Level II: $115,000 - $170,000 per year
Actual level and base salary determined case-by-case based on job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.
Benefits include long-term incentives in company stock, stock options, or long-term cash awards; discretionary bonuses; Employee Stock Purchase Plan; comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage; 401(k) retirement plan; short and long-term disability insurance; life insurance; paid parental leave; 3 weeks paid vacation; 10+ paid holidays per year; and paid sick leave.
Additional requirements
Extended hours and weekend work may be required to support critical project and mission milestones.
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.