Senior Packaging Failure Analysis Engineer
$165,000 - $220,000 USD yearly
About the role
The Senior Packaging Failure Analysis Engineer leads root-cause investigations of complex failures across silicon photonics, MEMS, optical packaging, and electronic assemblies. The role centers on cross-sectioning bonded components and evaluating material interfaces, including adhesive/epoxy attach, fusion and eutectic bonding, solder interconnects, and hermetic packages.
What you'll do
- Lead structured failure analysis workflows and 8D root-cause investigations across silicon photonics, MEMS, optical packaging, bonded assemblies, and PCBAs.
- Perform and interpret cross-sections of bonded structures to identify defects such as intermetallic formation, diffusion, cracking, voiding, contamination, and delamination.
- Utilize non-destructive and destructive analytical techniques, including optical microscopy, X-ray/CT, SAM, IR imaging, FIB, SEM/EDS, XPS, and XRD.
- Analyze fusion and eutectic bonded interfaces such as Si-Si, Si-glass, Au-Sn, and Au-Si systems for unbonded regions, weak-bond propagation, and interfacial defects.
- Investigate photonics fiber/FAU attach, adhesive failures, solder defects, and hermeticity issues, including leak testing, stiction, and cavity pressure shifts.
- Support product qualification and reliability investigations aligned with JEDEC, Telcordia GR-468, and MIL-STD-883 standards.
What you'll need
- BS, MS, or PhD in Materials Science, Materials Engineering, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline.
- 8+ years of hands-on experience in failure analysis, materials characterization, or physical analysis within semiconductors, advanced packaging, photonics, MEMS, or microelectronics.
- Demonstrated expertise in cross-sectioning and physical analysis of bonded interfaces.
- Practical experience with analytical techniques including SEM/EDS, FIB, XPS, XRD, optical microscopy, X-ray/CT, SAM, FTIR, and DSC.
- Working knowledge of materials behavior, phase diagrams, intermetallics, adhesion, and fracture mechanics across adhesives, solder joints, wafer/die bonding, or hermetic packages.
Nice to have
- Experience establishing, expanding, or operating an internal failure-analysis laboratory.
- Experience with silicon photonics, MEMS, optical packaging, or advanced semiconductor packaging.
More semiconductor jobs: Failure analysis jobs · Santa Clara jobs
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 41-day median for Failure Analysis Engineering roles.
Failure Analysis Engineering · Failure Analysis
|
Open roles in category
221
|
Median days open
41 d
|
Category median salary (all employers)
$95k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | nEye | All employers we track in this specialty (221 roles · 40 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 1 | 221 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 5 | 10088 · 116 employers |
| Median days open | 0 d | 41 d (−41 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $95k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Micron Technology · 45 open roles · median 35 d
- Infineon Technologies · 15 open roles · median 36 d
- Lam Research · 14 open roles · median 41 d
- Western Digital · 14 open roles · median 22 d
- GlobalFoundries · 13 open roles · median 42 d
- SanDisk · 12 open roles · median 4 d
How we counted: 221 open Failure Analysis Engineering (Failure Analysis) roles from 40 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 3 Nov 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.