Senior Staff Engineer, PCB Design (R5752)

Shield AI; Seattle, Northern (WA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking an experienced PCB Designer to create robust PCBA layouts for aircraft systems. You will collaborate with electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing engineers to translate schematics into manufacturable designs and output fabrication drawings.

The role emphasizes signal and power integrity, impedance control, and thermal/EMI mitigation, with a focus on production-ready PCBs and close collaboration with vendors and internal teams.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of PCB layout experience for production hardware.
• Strong understanding of IPC standards (IPC-2221/2222, IPC-7351).
• Experience with stack-up design, impedance control, and DFM requirements.

Responsibilities

• Create PCB layouts for complex digital, analog, RF, high-speed, and power electronics designs.
• Plan and manage PCB stack-ups with fabrication vendors and manufacturing engineers.
• Interpret schematics, routing rules, and design intent with electrical engineers.
• Collaborate with mechanical engineers for board form factor integration and connector placement.
• Apply best practices for signal integrity, power integrity, grounding, and EMI mitigation.
• Conduct design reviews and implement feedback for manufacturability and reliability.
• Generate and maintain manufacturing outputs like Gerber/ODB++ files and assembly drawings.
• Work with manufacturing to ensure DFM compliance.

Skills

PCB layout

Signal integrity

Power integrity

High-speed design

Tools

Altium Designer

Scripting/Automation

Job description

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BATaircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Job Description:

As a PCB Designer at Shield AI, you will be responsible for creating the layouts that support our aircraft. You’ll work closely with electrical, mechanical and manufacturing engineers to translate schematics and requirements into robust, manufacturable PCBA designs. You will be involved in all steps of the PCBA design process including stack-up design, constraint management, mechanical placement planning, generating drawings and manufacturing outputs.

What you'll do:

• Create PCB layouts for complex digital, analog, RF, high-speed, and power electronics designs.
• Plan and manage PCB stack-ups in collaboration with fabrication vendors and manufacturing engineers.
• Partner with electrical engineers to interpret schematics, routing rules, and design intent.
• Collaborate with mechanical engineers to ensure proper board form factor integration, connector positioning, placement constraints.
• Apply best practices for signal integrity, power integrity, grounding, impedance control, and thermal/EMI mitigation.
• Conduct design reviews and implement feedback to ensure manufacturability, reliability, and compliance with company standards.
• Generate and maintain manufacturing documentation, including Gerber/ODB++ files, fabrication and assembly notes and drawings.
• Work with manufacturing engineering to ensure designs meet supplier DFM requirements.

Required qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in PCB layout for production hardware (or equivalent combination of education and experience)

Preferred qualifications:

• Solid understanding of IPC standards (IPC-2221/2222, IPC-7351, etc.)
• Familiar with PCB materials and manufacturing process, and stack-up construction.
• Familiarity with controlled-impedance routing, differential pairs, length matching, and high-current power distribution.
• Experience with scripting and automation
• Experience with Altium Designer
• Experience using simulation tools to validate layout designs

$180,000 - $270,000 a year

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#LE

Full-time regular employee offer package:

• Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:

• Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed toequal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.