Sr Principal PCB Design Engineer - Livermore, CA, United States
$136,200 - $178,815 USD yearly
Originally posted 28 September 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role involves leading the design and development of advanced high-performance probe card printed circuit boards supporting semiconductor test solutions. It focuses on challenging and strategic PCB designs, including advanced HBM, high-speed digital, RF, and mixed-signal applications.
What you'll do
- Lead architecture, layout, and implementation of highly complex multilayer PCB designs for semiconductor test and probe card applications.
- Develop design solutions for high-density, high-speed, and high-current products, including HBM and advanced packaging technologies.
- Define PCB stackups, routing strategies, impedance requirements, power distribution networks, and manufacturability considerations.
- Perform and review constraint management, signal integrity implementation, power integrity requirements, and design rule compliance.
- Establish and improve PCB design methodologies, standards, checklists, and automation workflows.
- Lead technical reviews and support root cause analysis of design, manufacturing, and field-related issues.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or related technical field.
- PCB design experience in high-speed digital, RF, mixed-signal, or semiconductor-related products.
- Expert knowledge of PCB layout tools such as Cadence Allegro, Siemens Xpedition, or equivalent.
- Strong understanding of high-speed signal routing, power distribution network design, controlled impedance design, design for manufacturing (DFM), design for assembly (DFA), and PCB fabrication and assembly technologies.
- Experience designing complex multilayer boards with high-density interconnects (HDI), BGAs, microvias, and advanced packaging technologies.
- Minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 3 years experience.
Nice to have
- Expert Knowledge in PCB manufacturing and assembly/test.
- Experience supporting semiconductor test hardware, probe cards, or advanced packaging applications.
- Knowledge of signal integrity and power integrity concepts.
- Experience working in global engineering organizations.
- Experience mentoring PCB designers and leading technical initiatives.
- Familiarity with automation, scripting, and PCB design process optimization.
This role has been open 12 days — well below the 49-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
947
|
Median days open
49 d
|
Median salary
$158k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | FormFactor | All employers we track in this specialty (947 roles · 103 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 7 | 947 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 12 | 6035 · 146 employers |
| Median days open | 37 d | 49 d (−12 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $158k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 70 open roles · median 29 d
- KLA Corporation · 59 open roles · median 38 d
- NVIDIA · 52 open roles · median 64 d
- Applied Materials · 50 open roles · median 58 d
- Teradyne · 48 open roles · median 22 d
- AMD · 44 open roles · median 62 d
How we counted: 947 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 103 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 10 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.