Hardware Systems Engineer

Acceler8 Talent; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical coverage

401(k)

Paid time off

Job summary

Acceler8 Talent is partnering with a well-funded early-stage AI hardware startup to hire an Electrical Engineer - Hardware Systems in Mountain View. You will lead board-level hardware design, bridging silicon and systems, owning schematic capture, PCB layout, lab bring-up, validation, and manufacturing.

The role requires 5+ years in complex board- or system-level hardware, experience with Altium or Cadence Allegro, high-speed interfaces such as DDR/LPDDR, PCIe, SerDes, and strong SI/PI

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering; 5+ years in hardware design.
• Experience with schematic capture and PCB design tools.
• Strong background in high-speed digital interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Design accelerator boards and system hardware with schematic capture and PCB layout.
• Develop robust PDNs for accelerator silicon and board-to-package interfaces.
• Bring up hardware in lab; perform electrical characterization and debugging.
• Support fabrication, assembly, validation, and yield improvements.
• Collaborate across engineering disciplines to resolve system-level issues.
• Contribute to AI-assisted engineering workflows.

Skills

Schematic capture

PCB design

High-speed digital design

Signal integrity

Power integrity

Lab bring-up

DFX/DFM

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

Cadence Allegro

Job description

Electrical Engineer - Hardware Systems

We're partnering with a well-funded, early-stage AI hardware startup developing a next-generation AI inference platform that combines custom silicon, systems, and software to deliver breakthrough performance and efficiency for large-scale AI workloads. Backed by an exceptional team of engineers from many of the world's leading semiconductor and AI companies, they're building the complete hardware and software stack from the ground up- creating an opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology with meaningful ownership from day one.

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced Electrical Engineer to lead the design and validation of the board-level hardware that powers a next-generation AI accelerator. You'll bridge the gap between custom silicon and the systems it runs in, owning everything from schematic capture and PCB design through lab bring-up, validation, and manufacturing. This is a highly cross-functional role where you'll work closely with silicon, packaging, firmware, thermal, and systems engineers to deliver production-ready hardware.

What You'll Do

• Design accelerator boards and system hardware, owning schematic capture and guiding PCB layout for high-speed digital interfaces, clocking, and power delivery.
• Develop robust power delivery networks (PDNs) for high-performance accelerator silicon, collaborating with packaging and SI/PI engineers to optimize the board-to-package interface.
• Bring up new hardware in the lab, performing electrical characterization, debugging, and validation using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and power and thermal measurement equipment.
• Drive component selection, board-level DFM/DFT, and work closely with manufacturing partners through fabrication, assembly, validation, and yield improvement.
• Collaborate across silicon design, packaging, firmware, SI/PI, and thermal engineering teams to diagnose and resolve complex system-level electrical issues.
• Leverage and help develop AI-assisted engineering workflows to accelerate hardware design, validation, and debug.

What We're Looking For

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, with 5+ years of experience designing complex board- or system-level hardware.
• Strong experience with schematic capture and PCB design using tools such as Altium, Cadence Allegro, or comparable platforms.
• Hands-on experience designing high-speed digital systems incorporating interfaces such as DDR/LPDDR, PCIe, SerDes, or similar technologies.
• Deep experience with board bring-up, electrical debug, and validation in a laboratory environment.
• Strong understanding of signal integrity, power integrity, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and board-level electrical design best practices.
• Excellent collaboration skills and the ability to work across multiple engineering disciplines in a fast-paced startup environment.

Nice to Have

• Experience designing high-current power delivery networks for GPUs, AI accelerators, or other high-performance compute systems.
• Server or hyperscale platform design experience.
• FPGA-based hardware development or low-level firmware bring-up.
• Thermal co-design experience.
• Familiarity with electromagnetic simulation tools such as ANSYS HFSS, SIwave, or similar.

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation is competitive and determined by experience, technical expertise, and location. In addition to a competitive base salary, the package includes meaningful equity, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401(k), and generous paid time off.