Hardware Design Engineer
Also known as: PCB Design Engineer · Electronics Design Engineer
Designs electronic circuits and printed circuit boards for products and devices.
What you’d do
Designs the electronic circuits and printed circuit boards (PCBs) inside products — choosing components, drawing schematics, laying out boards and testing prototypes. Employers include electronics product companies, defence and aerospace electronics firms, automotive suppliers and engineering-services companies. A day mixes schematic and layout work, bench testing with lab instruments and fixing issues found in prototypes.
- Draws schematics and PCB layouts
- Selects components for circuits
- Tests prototype boards in the lab
- Fixes faults found in testing
How you get in
Freshers join as trainee or graduate engineers in electronics product or engineering-services firms, through campus placement or direct applications; defence PSUs also recruit through their own notifications. A self-designed PCB project, taken from schematic to an assembled working board, and solid analog and digital fundamentals help at interviews.
Salary in India
Fresher salary over the years
middle of the 0–1 yr range, ₹ lakh a year
Fewer than two years of fresher data so far — the trend shows once there are two.
Skills you’ll use
From our guide · a curated list is coming
- Schematic capture and component selection
- PCB layout and design for manufacture
- Analog and power-supply design
- Signal-integrity basics
- Bench testing and debugging prototypes
About this field · for freshers
Job openings by year
Is demand growing?
Not added yet.
Competition4
How many graduates enter each year?
B.Tech / B.E. (all branches) graduates in 2023-24 at institutions that reported to AISHE — everyone finishing that degree, not only those entering this role.
Who hires
IT firms, banks, government, startups?
Not added yet.
Where the jobs are
Which cities?
Not added yet.
Women in the field4
Is it diverse?
Share of women among B.Tech / B.E. (all branches) graduates in 2023-24 — the entry degree, not people already working in this role.
At a glance
- Openings are concentrated in a few electronics and engineering-services hubs.
- Growth path: design engineer → senior → hardware lead or architect, or a move into RF or power electronics.
- Design errors mean costly board re-spins, so careful review is a big part of the work.
Stay safe
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