Failure Analysis Engineer

Job Summary

Join our engineering team in San Jose, a vibrant hub of innovation and technology in California's Silicon Valley. As a key member, you will be responsible for investigating and resolving product issues for Industry Standard Servers. Collaborate closely with customers and internal teams, including Foxconn R&D, Product Engineering, and Quality Engineering, to analyze factory and field failure symptoms. Perform detailed hardware and circuit failure analysis to identify root causes at the component level. Support the implementation of corrective actions and provide feedback to improve product quality. Work with cross-functional engineering disciplines and participate in special capture programs to drive continuous improvement within the ESSN Server Products portfolio.

Essential Functions

• Conduct engineering investigations of significant customer returns, field failures, and line escalations related to hardware issues.
• Enhance customer satisfaction and product quality through timely resolution of hardware-related failures.
• Interface directly with design and manufacturing teams to determine the root cause of hardware failures down to the component level.
• Collaborate with various internal engineering disciplines (hardware, software, mechanical, materials, reliability) to resolve hardware issues.
• Facilitate execution of special capture programs such as ARDAP, Early Field Capture, and Selective Field Capture.
• Provide feedback to internal and external design and process teams based on failure analysis findings.
• Support internal communication of failure analysis techniques and processes to be deployed across global RMA and service centers, improving product knowledge and enhancing PCA debug efficiency.
• Drive best practices implementation across worldwide operational, RMA, and service sites.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Education, Experience, and Training

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering or a related field, with a minimum of 2 years of relevant experience.
• Proven ability to debug complex hardware issues using logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and other diagnostic test equipment.
• Experience with electrical and electronic design tools, including CAD, schematic capture, and PCB layout software. Knowledge of testing methodologies such as functional testing, boundary scan, and in-circuit testing is required.
• Working knowledge of key server technologies, including Client and AMD multi-core processors, DDR3/DDR4 memory, NAND flash memory, and PCA design. Familiarity with protocols and technologies such as PCIe, SAS, SCSI, SATA, Fibre Channel, Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, NVMe, and SSDs is preferred.
• Self-motivated team player capable of working independently in a customer-focused, fast-paced, and demanding environment.
• Understanding of the full hardware and software development lifecycle.
• Experience with hardware, firmware, and software development and testing methodologies.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively with both internal teams and external partners.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Knowledge and Skills

• Fluency in programming languages such as C#, JavaScript, Python, SQL, etc.
• Familiar with Computer OS such as Windows, CentOS, Ubuntu, Linux, or Tiny Linux, etc.
• Experience in troubleshooting analog and digital circuits. Troubleshoots, debugs, and determines root cause at PCBA and system levels for customer devices.
• Highly proficient in reading and interpreting assembly drawings, schematics, and board layout. Analyzes circuits and layout to identify marginal failure root causes.
• Familiar with the use of a variety of testing and measuring devices such as Functional generator, DMM, oscilloscopes, and Adjustable power supplies.
• Familiar with RMA process. Fluency with data collection and analysis.
• Develops, maintains, and improves all troubleshooting solutions within area of responsibility.
• Demonstrated problem-solving and organizational skills. Works with various engineering groups to ensure RMA products return to customers as requested.
• Knowledge of PCA, System, RMA & Service manufacturing environments.
• Skill in isolating and safely injecting failures to segregate problems during debug from the Server layer into specific PCAs.
• Working knowledge of Linux commands and structures, preferably with at least exposure to IPMITools.
• Ability to create, develop, and debug algorithms and test tools to aid in isolation of failures, along with strong documentation skills needed to share with others on the team.