Role: Platform HW Competitive Analysis Engineer
12 Months Contract
Location: Austin, TX (onsite/hybrid)
Job Duties:
1. Board Analysis:
o Analyze CPU/APU/GPU printed circuit boards (PCBs) from various vendors and systems, including notebooks, PC motherboards, and GPU cards.
o Identify electrical components and use reverse engineering techniques to understand board topology, architecture, power tree, and key interfaces.
2. Bill of Materials (BOM) Estimation:
o Collaborate with component engineers to create estimated BOM files, identifying components with unclear traits.
o Utilize the internal cost database to estimate board costs and compare with internal/customer designs.
3. PCB Stack-Up Analysis:
o Engage with PCB delamination shops for stack-up analysis, identifying high-speed interfaces and dielectric materials.
o Analyze vias, pad stacks, and trace geometries to determine competitor chip ball-out for key interfaces.
4. Power Instrumentation:
o Conduct power instrumentation on boards using standardized benchmarks to measure system efficiency.
o Measure incoming and output power across various ASIC rails.
5. Reporting and Recommendations:
o Prepare reports highlighting cost differences and design/architecture features affecting cost.
o Provide recommendations for future competitive platform designs.
Candidate Requirements:
•Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering.
•3-5 years of experience in platform hardware design/analysis.
•Proficiency in high-speed digital interfaces (e.G., LPDDR, GDDR, PCIe, USB, DP, eDP, HDMI, SPI, eSPI).
•Experience with complex PCB and system assemblies using FFC/custom cables and interfaces.
•Familiarity with PCB BOM cost optimization through design simplification while maintaining functionality and reliability.
•Experience collaborating with silicon vendors and suppliers for cost-effective design solutions.
•Previous experience in competitive BOM analysis and benchmarking power/efficiency/performance is a plus.