Senior PCB Layout Engineer

Who Are We?

At HyPrix, we're building attritable payload delivery systems for autonomy. Things that fly fast, we're enabling them with conscious software. Replicating the capabilities of expensive conventional frontline systems, we're building the cheapest micro and cruise missile systems on the planet. Built for a war of attrition, built for the era of software-defined warfare, built to cater to the front lines of battlefields where no man should stand in the future.

Learn more about us:

What You'll Do

The Senior/Staff PCB Layout Engineer independently owns the layout and release of flight-critical avionics PCBs. The boards include flight computers, power distribution, sensor interface and actuator drive boards, and their test equipment. The position holder works closely with the avionics, mechanical, systems and manufacturing engineers to deliver flight-worthy hardware on short schedules.

Each board must operate after shock, vibration, thermal cycling and humidity, and must pass EMI qualification. This role does not own circuit design or component selection. The Avionics Hardware Design Engineer owns them.

• Layout ownership. Own each layout from placement through fabrication and assembly release, with minimum supervision. Drive placement, routing and constraint decisions across analogue, digital and power domains. Push back on schematic decisions that create layout, manufacturability or integrity risk.
  

• Integrity and EMI. Control return paths, grounding, plane splits and filter placement, and design high-current power distribution. Convert SI and PI analysis results into layout constraints.
  

• Avionics environment. Place heavy components for vibration and shock, and define staking and conformal coating areas. Design thermal paths with copper areas, thermal vias and heat-sink interfaces.
  

• Mechanical integration. Agree board outlines, connectors, mounting points and keep-out areas with the mechanical team through the mechanical CAD system, also for rigid-flex boards.
  

• Board houses and DFX. Work directly with fabricators and assemblers to select materials, stack-ups, impedance targets and DFX rules. Lead the DFM and DFA reviews, and make sure that each flight board meets IPC Class 3.
  

• Release packages. Prepare the Gerber or ODB++, drill, pick-and-place, fabrication and assembly data, and the BOM. Release each design through the PLM system, and update it per approved engineering changes.
  

• Library and standards. Own the ECAD library and the HyPrix layout standards to IPC standards.
  

• Test and re-spins. Support bring-up, first article inspection and qualification tests. Find the cause of each layout-related failure, and support fast hardware re-spins.
  

• Reviews and mentoring. Lead layout reviews, check the work of other designers, and mentor the Junior PCB Layout Engineer.
  

• Staff level. Act as lead designer on multi-board programmes. Manage layout scope, schedule and risk across concurrent boards, and improve the ECAD process.
  

Requirements

Minimum Experience (Years)

Senior: 7 years of PCB layout for production hardware. Staff: 10 years.

HyPrix prefers this experience, but it is not mandatory. Demonstrated capability is more important than years.

Required Skills

• Production release. Proven experience to take complex PCBs from concept through production release, in aerospace, defence or other high-reliability hardware.
  

• Tools. Expert use of Altium Designer, including constraint and rule management. OrCAD/Allegro or Xpedition is also acceptable. Experience with mechanical CAD tools for ECAD-MCAD coordination.
  

• High-density boards. Multi-layer boards of typically 10 to 20 layers, fine-pitch BGA fanout, controlled impedance, differential pairs and length matching.
  

• Integrity and EMI. Strong knowledge of signal integrity, power integrity, grounding, EMI/EMC and thermal design.
  

• IPC standards. Design to IPC Class 3, with practical application of IPC-2221, IPC-2222, IPC-6012 and IPC-A-610.
  

• Fabrication and assembly. Deep knowledge of fabrication and assembly processes, materials and limits, and direct work with board houses.
  

• Ownership. Attention to detail, strong problem-solving skills and clear communication across disciplines. Staff level: experience as lead designer and mentor.
  

• A bachelor's degree or diploma in electronics, electrical, electronics and communication or instrumentation engineering.
  

• Ability to travel to vendors and test ranges, and to support at critical integration, test and flight-trial milestones.
  

Advantageous Skills/Qualifications

• An IPC CID+, CID++ or PCEA-CPCD certification.
  

• Layout experience on missile, UAV, aircraft or space avionics that passed MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461 or DO-160 qualification.
  

• Experience with rigid-flex, HDI and microvia, and heavy-copper boards.
  

• Experience with RF and mixed-signal layout, and with DDR memory routing.
  

• Experience with SI/PI tools, for example HyperLynx, Ansys SIwave or Cadence Sigrity.
  

• Experience with Altium 365 or Concord Pro, layout scripts and version-controlled design data.
  

• ECAD and MCAD co-design experience with SolidWorks or Siemens NX.
  

• Knowledge of conformal coating, staking and potting for vibration environments, and exposure to DO-254.
  

• Experience with Indian PCB fabricators and EMS companies for defence hardware.
  

Benefits

Why Join HyPrix?

HyPrix is a lean team with no rule book. Each person receives an end goal tied to a real product, and decides how to achieve it.

The Senior/Staff PCB Layout Engineer sets how HyPrix lays out and releases its flight electronics, and works directly with the engineering leadership.