Jr. PCB Layout Engineer

Location: Naperville, IL (Onsite)
Schedule: First Shift
Salary: $75,000–$85,000

Because of our client's contracts, applicants must be U.S. persons, including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (green card holders)

Position Overview

We are seeking a Jr. PCB Layout Engineer to support the design and development of mission-critical electronic products serving the aerospace, defense, industrial, and medical industries. This role is ideal for an engineer with hands-on PCB layout experience who enjoys collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams while working across multiple CAD platforms.

The successful candidate will contribute to the design of complex printed circuit boards, ensuring manufacturability, reliability, and compliance with industry best practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop complex multi-layer printed circuit board (PCB) layouts, including rigid, rigid-flex, and HDI designs.

• Perform component placement, routing, and stack-up development for mixed-signal, digital, and RF circuit boards.

• Execute high-speed PCB routing, including controlled impedance, differential pair routing, and signal matching.

• Apply best practices for:

  • Signal Integrity (SI) and Power Integrity (PI)

  • EMI/EMC mitigation

  • Grounding and shielding techniques

  • Thermal management

• Generate manufacturing documentation, including Gerber or ODB++ files, fabrication drawings, assembly documentation, and design packages.

• Participate in Design for Manufacturability (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), and Design for Test (DFT) reviews with manufacturing partners.

• Collaborate closely with Electrical, Mechanical, Manufacturing, and Test Engineering teams throughout the product development lifecycle.

Additional Responsibilities

• Support and maintain PCB CAD environments across multiple design platforms.

• Assist with PCB library management, component creation, and design standards.

• Participate in technical design reviews and provide layout recommendations.

• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives related to PCB design processes and engineering best practices.

Required Qualifications

• Associate's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Technology, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• PCB layout experience in a high-reliability manufacturing environment.

• Strong proficiency using Altium Designer.

• Working knowledge of at least one additional PCB design platform, such as:

  • Cadence Allegro / OrCAD

  • Siemens Xpedition (Mentor Graphics)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing:

  • Mixed-signal PCBs

  • RF circuit boards

  • High-speed digital interfaces (DDR, PCIe, SERDES, USB, Ethernet, etc.)

  • Multi-layer PCB stack-ups (8+ layers)

• Solid understanding of:

  • Controlled impedance routing

  • Signal Integrity (SI)

  • Power Integrity (PI)

  • EMI/EMC design principles

• Experience supporting or administering PCB CAD environments.

• Familiarity with PCB library development and design standardization.

• Experience with:

  • RF designs operating in GHz frequency ranges

  • Rigid-flex PCB technologies

  • High-Density Interconnect (HDI) designs

• Prior experience participating in design reviews and cross-functional engineering collaboration.