Junior Field Applications Engineer (FAE) – PCB Manufacturing
Location: San Jose, CA.
Job Type: Full-Time
Experience Level: Junior / Early Career
PCB Manufacturing or Engineering Experience Required
About the Opportunity
Our client, an established global manufacturer specializing in advanced printed circuit board (PCB) technologies, is seeking a Junior Field Applications Engineer (FAE) to support its customers and engineering teams.
Candidates must have professional experience working directly with printed circuit boards (PCBs). Experience in PCB fabrication, front-end engineering, process engineering, quality engineering, or PCB field applications engineering is highly relevant.
This is an excellent opportunity for an early-career engineer interested in transitioning into a customer-facing technical role while continuing to build expertise in PCB manufacturing technologies.
The FAE will serve as a technical liaison between customers, engineering teams, manufacturing facilities, and sales professionals. The position involves supporting PCB design reviews, Design for Manufacturability (DFM), stack-up requirements, technical troubleshooting, and customer engineering discussions.
Key Responsibilities
PCB Engineering & Technical Support
- Provide PCB Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and stack-up support to customer engineering and design teams for new products and existing design improvements.
- Review PCB fabrication drawings, technical specifications, and manufacturing requirements to ensure designs align with production capabilities.
- Participate in customer design reviews and recommend improvements to manufacturability, quality, and reliability.
- Assist with developing and reviewing fabrication drawing notes and manufacturing specifications.
- Interpret and apply relevant IPC standards, industry specifications, and customer-specific requirements.
- Coordinate technical inquiries and resolve engineering questions between customers and manufacturing teams.
- Provide technical guidance regarding PCB materials, fabrication processes, manufacturing tolerances, and production capabilities.
Manufacturing & Quality Support
- Collaborate with manufacturing facilities to evaluate design feasibility and resolve production-related technical challenges.
- Support investigations of customer-reported PCB quality issues and coordinate corrective actions with manufacturing and quality teams.
- Communicate factory capabilities, manufacturing limitations, and technology developments to customer engineering groups.
- Identify emerging customer technology requirements and communicate potential manufacturing capability gaps.
- Participate in customer visits, factory audits, and technical evaluations.
Customer & Sales Engineering Support
- Partner with Account Managers and sales leadership to provide technical support for existing and prospective customers.
- Participate in regularly scheduled customer meetings, engineering reviews, and technical discussions.
- Prepare and deliver presentations covering PCB manufacturing capabilities, technologies, and engineering solutions.
- Support customer programs by providing timely technical responses and coordinating with internal engineering and production teams.
- Assist with identifying technical opportunities that support customer growth and long-term relationships.
- Travel to customer locations and manufacturing facilities as needed.
Required Qualifications
- Professional, hands-on experience working with printed circuit boards (PCBs) is required.
- Experience in at least one of the following areas:
- PCB fabrication or manufacturing
- PCB front-end engineering / CAM engineering
- PCB process engineering
- PCB quality engineering
- PCB field applications engineering
- Working knowledge of PCB manufacturing processes, materials, fabrication drawings, and technical specifications.
- Familiarity with PCB stack-up construction and Design for Manufacturability (DFM) principles.
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings and communicate technical requirements to customers and manufacturing teams.
- Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively across engineering, manufacturing, quality, and sales departments.
- Willingness to travel for customer meetings, technical discussions, and factory visits.
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant technical experience.
Preferred Qualifications
- Previous experience in a PCB fabrication or manufacturing environment.
- Experience with multilayer PCBs, HDI technology, or advanced PCB manufacturing processes.
- Familiarity with IPC standards and customer-specific PCB manufacturing specifications.
- Experience reviewing Gerber files, fabrication documentation, or CAM outputs.
- Exposure to PCB quality investigations, manufacturing troubleshooting, or root cause analysis.
- Experience supporting customer engineering teams or participating in technical presentations.
- Experience collaborating with international manufacturing facilities.
Ideal Candidate Background
We are particularly interested in early-career engineers currently working in positions such as:
- Junior Field Applications Engineer – PCB
- PCB Front-End Engineer
- PCB CAM Engineer
- PCB Process Engineer
- PCB Quality Engineer
- PCB Manufacturing Engineer
Candidates do not need extensive field applications experience if they have a strong foundation in PCB fabrication or manufacturing and are interested in developing their customer-facing technical skills.
Important: This position requires direct professional PCB experience. General electronics, semiconductor, or mechanical engineering experience without relevant PCB manufacturing or engineering exposure will not meet the position's requirements.
Experience exclusively in PCB assembly (PCBA), without exposure to PCB fabrication or related manufacturing engineer