Product Failure Analysis Engineer - San Jose, California, United States
$149,100 - $215,925 USD yearly
Originally posted 23 August 2026 by the employer.
About the role
We are seeking an experienced semiconductor Failure Analysis Engineer responsible for debug and root cause analysis of yield, reliability and customer returns on FPGAs using advanced foundry process technologies. This role requires partnering with IC and Package design, Foundry Engineering, Product and manufacturing Engineering, and Reliability teams for driving systematic fault isolation and debug.
What you'll do
- Collaborate with Product/Yield/Reliability Engineers to drive electrical verification and fault isolation during product development, yield improvement, and reliability risk assessments.
- Support debug and fault isolation on customer returns.
- Define, execute, and interpret fault isolation methods as appropriate to non-destructively isolate a failure using commercial testers and fault isolation tools.
- Independently use Emission microscopes, Laser Voltage Probing, and OBIRCH tools.
- Collaborate with the physical failure analysis team on defect modes.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Eng, Materials Science, Physics, Mechanical Engineering or a related field.
- 8+ years of experience in semiconductor failure analysis.
- 8+ years of experience with Layout & Design tools (Virtuoso, Avalon, SysNav, etc).
- 8+ years of experience with FA tools such as Laser Voltage Probing (LVP), Photo Emission EMMI, Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change (OBIRCH).
- 8+ years of experience with DFT and logic fault localization knowledge.
- 8+ years of experience driving investigations to root-cause and to drive yield/reliability improvements.
Nice to have
- 10+ years of experience in semiconductor failure analysis.
- Understanding of FPGA architecture.
- Understanding design debug features (DFT).
- Experience with using Teradyne Ultraflex tester.
- Semiconductor packaging failure analysis.
This role has been open 53 days — slightly above the 51-day median for Failure Analysis Engineering roles.
Failure Analysis Engineering · Failure Analysis
|
Open roles in category
189
|
Median days open
51 d
|
Median salary
$107k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Altera | All employers we track in this specialty (189 roles · 39 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 2 | 189 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 8 | 9867 · 109 employers |
| Median days open | 54 d | 51 d (+3 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $107k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Micron Technology · 31 open roles · median 73 d
- GlobalFoundries · 14 open roles · median 24 d
- Lam Research · 14 open roles · median 40 d
- Infineon Technologies · 13 open roles · median 45 d
- Intel Corporation · 12 open roles · median 27 d
- STMicroelectronics · 9 open roles · median 52 d
How we counted: 189 open Failure Analysis Engineering (Failure Analysis) roles from 39 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 16 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.