Hardware Board Design Engineer
San Jose, CA - USA
Job Summary
The Opportunity
We are seeking a hands-on Hardware Board Design Engineer to design server motherboards
and related cards that integrate silicon into working systems. Reporting directly to the
CEO you will own complex PCB designs from system requirements through bring-up and
manufacturing. The highest priorities are board design component placement and PCB
stack-up and layer-count optimization. You should also understand board-level power
delivery and thermal considerations and work effectively with the relevant specialists.
What You Will Build
Server Motherboard and Board Design
Lead the end-to-end design of server motherboards accelerator cards mezzanine cards
and related base boards for CPU- and GPU-based systems.
Translate system requirements into board architecture schematics component selection
and component placement with clear ownership from design through bring-up.
Drive PCB stack-up and layer-count optimization to achieve manufacturable cost-effective
designs while meeting performance and reliability requirements.
Power and Thermal Considerations
Understand board-level power delivery requirements and thermal constraints and
incorporate them into component placement layout guidance and design tradeoffs.
Work with power integrity thermal signal integrity PCB and mechanical specialists to
review analysis results and resolve system-level design issues.
Bring-up and Manufacturing
Collaborate with ODMs/OEMs on system requirements bring-up and validation plans and
manufacturing readiness.
Bring up and debug base boards and mezzanine cards define test plans and test
equipment and maintain PCBA documentation including BOMs and special assembly
processes.
What We Are Looking For
Required Experience
5-10 years of hands-on experience designing complex server motherboards or
comparable high-performance computing boards from schematics through bring-up and
validation.
Demonstrated experience with CPU GPU server or accelerator card platforms including
board-level integration of processors memory high-speed interfaces and supporting
components.
Strong experience with component placement PCB stack-up and layer-count optimization
including design tradeoffs that improve manufacturability and cost.
Experience with high-speed and control interfaces such as Ethernet PCIe Gen5 I2C SPI
and UART.
Working knowledge of board-level power delivery and thermal analysis with the ability to
understand requirements review results and collaborate with domain specialists.
Proficiency with schematic capture and PCB design tools hands-on lab debugging and test
equipment and clear documentation for manufacturing partners.
How You Work
Take ownership of engineering decisions and stay closely involved in design testing and
problem-solving.
Work directly with the chip team during early product definition to analyze multiple what-if
scenarios and evaluate tradeoffs in board architecture component placement PCB layer
count performance cost manufacturability power delivery and thermal constraints
before the design is finalized.
Bring curiosity about AI workloads and a willingness to learn quickly in a small
fast-moving engineering team.
We encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every qualification.
Compensation and Work Arrangement
Annual base salary: $150000-$250000 based on experience and qualifications.
Additional compensation: Bonus and stock options.
Office: San Jose California.
Onsite schedule: Three days per week in the San Jose office.
Reporting line: Directly to the CEO.
Work authorization: Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without
visa sponsorship