Principal, Printed Circuits Boards Manufacturing Engineer - Santa Clara, United States
Originally posted 31 August 2026 by the employer.
This role focuses on PCB manufacturing and design for AI hardware.
About the role
What you'll do
- Establish and enforce company-wide PCB design guidelines.
- Audit and qualify global PCB fabrication partners.
- Drive supplier process controls, 8D corrective actions, and continuous yield and cost improvements.
- Define IPC-compliant reliability standards, including CAF, IST, and microvia reliability testing.
- Evaluate advanced PCB materials, high-layer-count stackups, HDI/microvias, and signal/power integrity and thermal management requirements.
What you'll need
- Master's degree in electrical, materials, mechanical, or manufacturing engineering, or a related field.
- 10+ years of experience in PCB design, fabrication, or supplier quality for high-performance computing, AI hardware, networking, or semiconductors.
- Deep knowledge of high-layer-count (HLC) boards, HDI, microvias, sequential lamination, and ultra-low-loss laminates.
- Fluency in IPC standards: IPC-6012, IPC-A-600, IPC-2221/2222, IPC-TM-650, IPC-4101.
- Expertise in SPC, DFMEA/PFMEA, 8D root-cause analysis, IST, and CAF testing.
Skills: PCB DFM/DFA, PCB fabrication partners, supplier process controls, IPC standards, SPC
This role has been open 44 days — well below the 55-day median for Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering roles.
Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering · Manufacturing Equipment
|
Open roles in category
2454
|
Median days open
55 d
|
Median salary
$98k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | d-Matrix | All employers we track in this specialty (2454 roles · 79 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 1 | 2454 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 2 | 9855 · 109 employers |
| Median days open | 44 d | 55 d (−11 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $98k |
Skills observed across this category: PCB DFM/DFA, PCB fabrication partners, supplier process controls, IPC standards, SPC
Who's hiring in this category
- Micron Technology · 400 open roles · median 77 d
- Entegris · 236 open roles · median 34 d
- Applied Materials · 232 open roles · median 40 d
- Lam Research · 103 open roles · median 57 d
- Infineon Technologies · 88 open roles · median 55 d
- ASML · 74 open roles · median 69 d
How we counted: 2454 open Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering (Manufacturing Equipment) roles from 79 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 14 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 Process, Fab & Equipment family row. Figures refresh nightly.