Substrate Process and Automation Lead Engineer
Dynamic Test Solutions (DTS) is seeking an experienced Substrate Process and Automation Lead Engineer to establish, standardize, and continuously improve the processes supporting advanced substrate design, verification, and manufacturing release.
The successful candidate will work closely with substrate designers, design management, SI/PI engineers, QC, automation developers, and manufacturing teams to ensure designs progress smoothly and consistently from one stage to the next.
The primary objectives are to eliminate process gaps, reduce manual and repetitive work, improve design quality, shorten cycle times, and create scalable workflows that support increasing substrate design volumes.
Key Responsibilities
- Substrate Process Development & Standardization
- Assess the existing end-to-end substrate workflow, from design inputs and planning through layout, verification, documentation, and manufacturing release.
- Define clear stage gates, deliverables, ownership, handoffs, and acceptance criteria for each phase of the substrate design cycle.
- Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), design guidelines, templates, checklists, and best practices.
- Identify process bottle necks, unclear interfaces, and recurring sources of rework; implement practical corrective actions.
- Design Automation & Tool Development
- Identify high-value opportunities to automate repetitive design, checking, data preparation, and documentation activities.
- Work with software and automation teams to define requirements, prioritize projects, test solutions, and deploy reliable tools and scripts.
- Promote automation within Cadence Allegro Package Designer (APD), Allegro, and associated substrate engineering workflows where feasible.
- Automate or streamline design-rule checks, data consistency checks, design comparisons, reporting, and release-package generation.
- Evaluate suitable AI-assisted methods while ensuring outputs are validated and controlled.
- Quality, Verification & Process Control
- Collaborate with QC and designers to implement standardized verification steps and automated quality gates.
- Improve DRC, connectivity, stackup, design-constraint, and manufacturing-data checks in coordination with the responsible technical specialists.
- Analyze recurring design errors, engineering changes, and manufacturing feedback; introduce preventive controls and lessons learned.
- Design-to-Manufacturing Workflow Integration
- Coordinate with design, SI/PI, substrate planning, CAM, and manufacturing teams to align requirements and handoff expectations.
- Improve the consistency and completeness of manufacturing outputs, documentation, revisions, and engineering-change workflows.
- Help resolve process-related issues between design and manufacturing
- Implementation, Training & Continuous Improvement
- Work directly with substrate designers to pilot, refine, and embed improved processes into everyday design activities.
- Provide practical training, documentation, and user support for new workflows, scripts, and automation tools.
- Measure improvements using indicators such as design cycle time, rework, quality findings, automation adoption, and manual hours saved.
- Maintain a prioritized process-and-automation improvement roadmap and communicate progress, risks, and dependencies to stakeholders.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related discipline.
- 8–10+ years of relevant experience in substrate design, advanced PCB design, IC packaging, or engineering process development.
- Strong understanding of substrate design flows, multilayer stackups, design verification, documentation, and manufacturing interfaces.
- Practical experience with Cadence Allegro Package Designer (APD), Allegro PCB Designer, or equivalent design tools preferred.
- Demonstrated experience developing engineering processes, standardizing workflows, and driving automation or scripting initiatives.
- Working knowledge of DRC, DFM,SI/PI requirements, controlled impedance, and substrate fabrication processes.
- Ability to translate designer needs into clear automation requirements and collaborate with software developers.
- Strong analytical, troubleshooting, communication, documentation, and cross-functional leadership skills.
What We're Looking for
We are looking for a hands-on process and automation leader who understands how substrate designs are executed in practice, can work side by side with designers, and can turn fragmented workflows into consistent, repeatable, and efficient processes.
Success in this position means a smoother design-to-manufacturing flow, fewer avoidable errors and handoff delays, greater use of automation, and measurable improvements in productivity and quality.