Senior Hardware Design Engineer Pcb/Cca (San Diego)

This position is based on site in San Diego, CA and requires daily in-office collaboration. This is a fully onsite role and is not eligible for remote or hybrid work arrangements. We are specifically seeking candidates who are open to relocating to the San Diego area.

We are seeking a Senior Hardware Digital Design Engineer with deep expertise in Circuit Card Assembly (CCA) design and manufacturing. This role serves as a critical link between engineering and production, ensuring designs are optimized for manufacturability, performance, and supplier capability from initial concept through full-scale production.

The ideal candidate will bring strong technical knowledge of advanced PCB design, materials, and fabrication processes, along with the ability to collaborate across cross-functional teams and external partners. This individual will play a key role in aligning design intent with manufacturing execution to deliver high-reliability electronic systems.

Key Responsibilities:

Lead and support the design, analysis, and validation of complex circuit card assemblies.

Translate customer and system requirements into manufacturable electrical designs.

Act as a liaison between design engineering, manufacturing, and suppliers to ensure seamless product transition to production.

Review schematics, layouts, component selections, and fabrication/assembly documentation.

Provide guidance on PCB stack-up design, material selection, and advanced fabrication techniques such as blind/buried vias, backdrilling, and impedance control.

Evaluate and recommend design improvements to enhance performance, reliability, and manufacturability.

Support prototype builds, debug, test, and production readiness activities.

Contribute to design reviews, technical discussions, and supplier assessments.

Assist in defining test strategies, including development of automated test equipment (ATE) and procedures (ATP).

Monitor project progress, timelines, and technical execution in collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Stay current with emerging technologies, materials, and electronic design best practices.

Technical Expertise:

Strong knowledge of PCB materials, including low-loss laminates and glass styles.

Experience with stack-up optimization for both sequential and single lamination designs.

Familiarity with IPC-6012 Class 2 & 3 standards.

Understanding of surface finishes, copper treatments, and via design trade-offs.

Experience with high-speed digital design, including FPGA, microprocessors, and DDR memory.

Knowledge of common interfaces and protocols such as Ethernet, USB, I2C, SPI, UART, and RS-232/422.

Experience with power supply design (switching and linear) and mixed-signal systems.

Familiarity with fine-pitch PCB assembly and high-reliability soldering processes.

Preferred Software & Tools:

• Mentor Graphics HyperLynx (SI/PI)
• LTspice
• Xilinx Vivado
• MATLAB / Simulink
• Polar Instruments (Speedstack, SI9000)

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