Product Engineer, NPI
Santa Clara · USD 170,000-255,000 / year · Onsite · Posted Sep 29, 2026
At a glance
- Workplace
- Onsite
- Location
- Santa Clara
- Salary
- USD 170,000-255,000 / year · Base salary
About the role
- As a Product Engineer specializing in PCBA Manufacturing and DFM, you will drive the end-to-end design manufacturability, quality, and production readiness of next-generation printed circuit board assemblies powering high-performance server and storage systems.
- Partnering cross-functionally with Hardware Design, Mechanical Engineering, Test Engineering, and global Contract Manufacturers, you will establish high-yield manufacturing processes, optimize complex stack-ups, and safeguard signal integrity across critical data center hardware.
Responsibilities
- Direct PCB material selection, multilayer stack-up design, dielectric properties, and fabrication requirements in partnership with hardware designers and fabrication suppliers to maximize signal integrity, ensure impedance control, and eliminate manufacturability risks before release.
- Define, optimize, and qualify SMT and mixed-technology assembly processes—including solder paste printing, component placement, reflow, and selective soldering—collaborating with Contract Manufacturers to achieve first-pass yield targets and robust solder joint integrity.
- Drive production readiness and defect elimination by deploying and calibrating automated inspection and test strategies (SPI, AOI, X-ray, ICT, and functional test) with test engineering teams, ensuring comprehensive probe access, boundary scan coverage, and rapid root-cause isolation.
- Lead comprehensive Gerber, fabrication drawing, assembly, test interaction and BOM reviews in PLM tools to mitigate design risks, optimize assembly hierarchies, and accelerate successful NPI transitions to high-volume manufacturing.
- Structure and maintain accurate BOMs in tools such as Agile, including part relationships, revisions, assembly and manufacturing data.
Requirements
- Expertise in PCB Fabrication & Stack-up Design: Mastery of PCB materials, dielectric properties, laminate systems, high-layer-count stack-ups, controlled impedance, and transmission-line behavior (including TDR and S-parameter analysis) for high-speed digital architecture.
- Comprehensive SMT & PCBA Manufacturing Skills: Deep technical knowledge of surface-mount technology (SMT) assembly, solder paste printing, reflow profile optimization, pick-and-place process tuning, selective soldering, and IPC standards compliance for high-reliability electronics.
- Advanced DFX & CAD Data Analysis: Expertise reviewing Gerber files, drill data, CAM tools, and manufacturing drawings to implement actionable Design for Manufacturability (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), and Design for Testability (DFT) improvements.
- Data-Driven Quality & Inspection Mastery: Hands-on proficiency with process characterization tools including SPI, AOI, X-ray, ICT, test-point strategies, and statistical process control to identify root causes and drive continuous yield improvement.
- Cross-Functional & Supplier Leadership: Proven ability to partner effectively with cross-functional hardware teams, test engineers, and global Contract Manufacturers (CMs) to lead pilot builds, qualify suppliers, and resolve complex production challenges.
Benefits
- Incentive pay and/or equity
- Flexible time off
- Wellness resources
- Company-sponsored team events
Workplace
- Primarily an in-office environment expected to work from the Santa Clara office in compliance with company policies.
Skills
- PCB Fabrication
- Stack-up Design
- TDR
- S-parameter Analysis
- SMT
- PCBA Manufacturing
- IPC Standards
- DFM
- DFA
- DFT
- SPI
- AOI
Show all 15 skills
- X-ray
- ICT
- Agile