PCB Design Engineer
You will work within a small team of dedicated engineers responsible for the design of Planet’s satellites. This is not your typical aerospace or consumer electronics role. You will work designing printed circuit board assemblies optimized for medium-scale mass production. You will design and optimize electrical power, data handling, and sensor interfacing systems, both within the spacecraft and on ground support equipment. You will be responsible for complex high-speed digital, analog, RF and Microwave PCB/PCBA designs and interfacing with electrical design engineers to make sure that board meets their design requirements. You will work with board manufacturers to ensure they are fabricating and assembling a quality product. Your work will then be put in a rocket and shot into space.
This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our San Francisco office 3 days per week.
Impact You'll Own:
Design layout of RF/Microwave, power, microprocessor, high-speed interface, and mixed-signal Printed Circuit Boards for satellite applications in concert with the electrical design engineers
Collaborate with electrical design engineers and supply chain to manage PCB design in Altium environment and the integration with the configuration control, inventory, and manufacturing system
Coordinate with vendors to ensure on-time delivery of high-quality, high-reliability PCB Assemblies that meet IPC standards
Generate fabrication and assembly packages, including drawings, and management of design and drawing templates
Create parts entries, including footprints and schematic symbols, for the Altium database parts library
Manage the Altium parts library
Partner with electrical design engineers to manage subcontractors performing PCB layouts of their designs and reviewing their outputs
Select PCB material and fabrication processes
What You Bring:
5+ years experience in PCB layout design
Experience with Altium Designer
Experience implementing and enforcing IPC standards for PCB design, fabrication, and assembly
What Makes You Stand Out:
Experience withDesign for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Test (DFT) checks, running design rule checks (DRCs).
Experience with quality management, i.e. addressing quality issues with vendors resulting in corrective actions
Experience with high density, flex and rigid-flex PCB design and boards using RF material.
Application Deadline:
November 20, 2026 at 11:59p PT
EAR/ITAR Requirements:
This position requires access to export-controlled information, and as such, employment (or hiring of a contractor) is contingent upon the candidate’s ability to access all applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing being required by the Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.
Benefits While Working at Planet:
These offerings are dependent on employment type and geographical location, based upon applicable law or company policy.
Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution
Generous Paid Time Off in addition to holidays and company-wide days off
16 Weeks of Paid Parental Leave
Wellness Program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Home Office Reimbursement
Monthly Phone and Internet Reimbursement
Tuition Reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning
Equity
Commuter Benefits (if local to an office)
Volunteering Paid Time Off
Compensation:
The US base salary range for this full-time position at the commencement of employment is listed below. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives (bonus and equity). The final salary range is determined by job related experience, skills and location. The range displays our typical hiring range for new hire salaries in US locations only. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
San Francisco Salary Range
$144,500—$180,600 USD
San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance