Engineering Lab Manager

About the Role

We are a fast-growing AI hardware startup building next-generation AI chips that push the limits of performance, power efficiency, and scalability. We are looking for a hands‑on Engineering Lab Manager to build, run, and scale our engineering lab from the ground up
, enabling rapid silicon bring‑up, validation, and system‑level testing.

This is a highly visible, high‑impact role. You will be the owner of the lab
, working directly with silicon design, systems, validation, and software teams to ensure engineers can move fast without friction.

• Design lab layouts, benches, rack infrastructure, power, cooling, and networking.
• Establish lab safety, ESD controls, access policies, and operating procedures—then keep them lightweight and practical.
• Manage inventory of consumables such as cables and connectors.
• Actively support first‑silicon bring‑up, board debug, and system integration.
• Help engineers debug power, clocks, resets, high‑speed interfaces, and thermal issues.
• Rapidly adapt lab setups as designs evolve—no two weeks are the same.
• Assist RF and signal integrity measurements.
• Provide limited rework of board.
• Select, procure, and maintain lab equipment (scopes, analyzers, power supplies, thermal tools, servers).
• Work directly with vendors to get what the team needs—fast and cost‑effective.
• Track assets and keep the lab operational with minimal downtime.

• Prioritize lab usage across multiple teams and tape‑out milestones.
• Remove bottlenecks so engineers can focus on building and debugging silicon.
• Create simple processes that scale with the company without slowing it down.

• Hire and mentor lab technicians or junior engineers as the team grows.
• Evolve the lab to support multiple silicon revisions, platforms, and customers.
• Contribute ideas beyond the lab—startup life values initiative.

• Associate degree (Bachelor’s degree preferred) in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent hands‑on experience.
• 7+ years in hardware labs supporting SoC, semiconductor, or advanced system development.
• Strong hands‑on experience with silicon bring‑up, board‑level debug, and lab instrumentation.
• Need to have good soldering skills and board rework experience.
• Comfort working in ambiguous, fast‑moving environments.
• Builder mentality—you enjoy creating a structure where none exists.

• Experience with a semiconductor or AI hardware startup.
• Mechanical design experience, especially with PCB jigs.
• Familiarity with thermal management of silicon testing.
• Experience automating lab workflows or test setups.
• Prior experience scaling a lab through multiple tape‑outs.

• You will directly impact the success of our silicon
  —lab readiness can make or break tape‑out and bring‑up.
• High ownership and visibility across engineering leadership.
• Opportunity to grow into broader operations or technical leadership roles as the company scales.
• Work alongside a small, elite team solving hard problems in AI hardware.

Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at Celero Communications by 2x.