Principal Electrical Design Engineer - Livermore, CA, United States
$110,700 - $145,320 USD yearly
Originally posted 26 October 2026 by the employer.
Develop production-ready electrical designs and PDN architectures for advanced wafer probe card solutions.
About the role
The Principal Electrical Design Engineer develops production-ready electrical designs for advanced wafer probe card solutions, translating complex customer test requirements into accurate, manufacturable designs. This role manages design projects from requirements review through production release for space transformers and PCBs.
What you'll do
- Develop production-ready probe card electrical designs, logical designs, and netlists that meet performance and manufacturing specifications. - Apply impedance control, power distribution networks (PDN), signal integrity, and digital and analog circuit fundamentals to physical routing. - Translate customer technical requirements from schematics and spreadsheets into specifications for internal and external physical designers. - Interface directly with customers, vendors, and cross-functional teams to resolve electrical design issues and recommend design approaches. - Manage multiple concurrent design projects, defining project scope, design schedules, milestones, and deliverables through production release. - Partner with automation and design teams to evaluate and validate improvements to internal design tools and engineering processes.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree with a minimum of 5 years of related experience, a Master's degree with 3 years, or a PhD. - Background in electrical design fundamentals, including impedance control, power distribution networks (PDN), signal integrity, and digital and analog circuits. - Understanding of physical routing concepts, including differential-pair routing, high-speed design considerations, and PCB layout practices. - Experience developing and validating logical designs, netlists, schematics, and electrical design documentation. - Experience with Cadence Allegro, Siemens PADS, AutoCAD, or similar engineering design tools.
Nice to have
- Knowledge of multilayer PCB and ceramic or organic substrate design and manufacturing processes. - Knowledge of or experience with semiconductor test, wafer probing, or semiconductor manufacturing technologies.
Skills: probe card, PCB layout, signal integrity, power distribution networks, Cadence Allegro
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 39-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · Manufacturing Equipment
|
Open roles in category
34
|
Median days open
39 d
|
Median salary
$148k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | FormFactor | All employers we track in this specialty (34 roles · 16 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 4 | 34 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 19 | 6302 · 146 employers |
| Median days open | 6 d | 39 d (−33 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $148k |
Skills observed across this category: probe card, PCB layout, signal integrity, power distribution networks, Cadence Allegro
Who's hiring in this category
- Lam Research · 7 open roles · median 105 d
- Teradyne · 6 open roles · median 47 d
- Applied Materials · 2 open roles · median 125 d
- ASML · 2 open roles · median 13 d
- FormFactor (this employer) · 2 open roles · median 20 d
- Keysight Technologies · 2 open roles · median 67 d
How we counted: 34 open Hardware Systems Engineering (Manufacturing Equipment) roles from 16 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 26 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.