Hardware Design & Failure Analysis Engineer

Location: San Jose, CA
Work Mode: Onsite
Contract Duration: 6 Months
Experience Required: 10+ Years

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Hardware Design and Failure Analysis Engineer with strong expertise in high-speed hardware systems, board-level design, power integrity, signal integrity, and system-level failure analysis. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience debugging complex hardware issues, conducting component-level failure analysis, and collaborating with silicon suppliers and analytical laboratories to identify root causes and implement corrective actions.

Primary Skills

High-Speed Hardware Design,

Hardware Failure Analysis and Root-Cause Analysis,

Power Integrity and Signal Integrity,

Embedded Digital Hardware Design and Development,

ASIC Circuit Design

Analog and Mixed-Signal IC Circuit Design

Thermal Analysis

Secondary Skills

PCIe Gen4 / Gen5 / Gen6,

DDR4 / DDR5 / HBM,

56G / 112G / 224G SerDes,

Optical Transceivers

Power Distribution Network (PDN) Analysis

Multi-Phase Voltage Regulator Modules (VRMs)

PMBus / SVID Telemetry

Python / C Automation

Advanced Semiconductor Packaging

Hardware Reliability and Quality Engineering

Key Responsibilities

• Lead hardware design, debugging, and failure analysis for complex electronic systems.
• Investigate power distribution network issues, including transient voltage droop, switching noise, and multi-phase VRM behavior.
• Analyze high-speed signal integrity issues across PCIe, DDR, HBM, SerDes, and optical transceiver interfaces.
• Perform system-level troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of intermittent and complex hardware failures.
• Collaborate with silicon suppliers and analytical laboratories to conduct component-level physical failure analysis.
• Analyze hardware telemetry, including PMBus and SVID data, to identify electrical and power-related anomalies.
• Develop and implement corrective actions to improve hardware performance, reliability, and product quality.
• Work with cross-functional engineering teams to resolve hardware design and validation issues.
• Communicate technical findings, failure mechanisms, and recommendations to engineering leadership and customers.
• Develop Python or C automation tools to reproduce intermittent failures and complex hardware race conditions.
• Support hardware quality and reliability initiatives throughout the product lifecycle.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field.
• Strong experience in hardware engineering, board design, or system-level failure analysis.
• Hands-on knowledge of high-speed hardware architectures, including PCIe, DDR, HBM, SerDes, and optical interfaces.
• Proven expertise in power integrity, signal integrity, and power distribution network debugging.
• Experience with hardware failure analysis, electrical measurements, troubleshooting, and root-cause identification.
• Experience working with external silicon suppliers and analytical laboratories.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to present complex technical findings to cross-functional stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting hardware quality or reliability programs for hyperscale cloud environments.
• Knowledge of chiplets, 2.5D/3D integrated circuits, CoWoS, and advanced semiconductor packaging.
• Understanding of semiconductor failure mechanisms and component-level physical analysis.
• Proficiency in Python or C for hardware automation and failure reproduction.
• Experience with ASIC design, analog and mixed-signal circuits, and thermal analysis.