Platform Solutions Engineer Intern (MechE)

Location: Cary, North Carolina, United States

About the role

Astera Labs is seeking a Platform Solutions Engineer Intern to help translate customer, partner, and system requirements into practical mechanical and platform solutions. You will work at the intersection of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, thermal management, hardware validation, lab infrastructure, product applications, and ecosystem integration.

You will gain hands-on experience with platform form factors, board and chassis integration, fixtures, heatsinks, airboxes, airflow, thermal validation, fabrication, assembly, and manufacturing-ready documentation. You will own a scoped project that produces a reusable mechanical design, validation analysis, integration improvement, fabrication package, or technical recommendation.

What you will do

Study platform, server, rack-scale, and evaluation-system architectures, including boards, modules, chassis, connectors, cables, power components, and cooling hardware.
Translate customer, partner, product, and system requirements into mechanical assumptions, envelopes, mounting constraints, interface definitions, thermal requirements, and technical questions.
Support mechanical concepts and detailed designs for chassis enclosures, airboxes, heatsinks, backplates, mounting plates, brackets, cables, and board-level hardware.
Review PCB outlines, component placement, connector locations, keep-outs, stack-ups, mechanical interfaces, and assembly constraints for fit and serviceability.
Evaluate thermal and airflow behavior, including heat paths, thermal-interface materials, heatsink contact, fan or blower selection, ducting, pressure drop, recirculation, and component temperature margins.
Support EVB, SVB, evaluation-kit, tester, and lab-fixture designs, including baseplates, sockets, alignment features, plug-in mechanisms, and handling requirements.
Create or update 3D models, drawings, assembly documentation, bills of materials, fabrication packages, and design-review materials using project tools and standards.
Participate in design reviews and analyze fit, clearance, interference, structural, thermal, manufacturability, assembly, and serviceability issues.
Support prototype fabrication, vendor quotation and purchase workflows, first-article assembly, fit checks, thermal or airflow validation, and design iterations.
Use spreadsheets, Python, or other automation to organize requirements, compare design options, track parts and revisions, analyze measurements, or report project status.
Collaborate with electrical, signal integrity/power integrity, product applications, NPI, validation, lab, manufacturing, procurement, and mechanical suppliers to resolve integration issues.
Release and maintain design files, drawings, BOMs, assembly instructions, validation results, and revision history in the appropriate system of record.
Document the completed project, analysis, methodology, results, and recommendations; present the outcome to engineering and cross-functional stakeholders.

What you bring

Enrollment in a bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D. program in mechanical engineering, mechatronics, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, or a related field.
Coursework, research, or project experience in mechanical design, CAD, thermal management, fluid mechanics, structures, manufacturing, robotics, or hardware integration.
Understanding of mechanical design concepts such as tolerances, fits, clearances, fasteners, materials, heat transfer, airflow, and design for manufacturing and assembly.
Experience with CAD, drawings, spreadsheets, data analysis, or a scripting language such as Python or comparable tools.
Ability to learn complex hardware systems, organize ambiguous requirements, analyze tradeoffs, and communicate practical recommendations.
Strong attention to detail, written and verbal communication skills, ownership, curiosity, and willingness to collaborate across functions.

Preferred qualifications

Experience designing or validating chassis, enclosures, heatsinks, airboxes, brackets, fixtures, baseplates, backplates, or other hardware for electronics.
Familiarity with PCB and mechanical integration, connector and cable routing, component keep-outs, stack-ups, fasteners, or assembly drawings.
Exposure to thermal or airflow analysis, CFD or FEA, thermal testing, fan/blower selection, heatsink characterization, or thermal-interface materials.
Experience with CAD systems, GD&T, tolerance analysis, DFM/DFA, vendor drawings, RFQs, fabrication, machining, sheet metal, 3D printing, or injection molding.
Familiarity with EVB/SVB bring-up, lab fixtures, test equipment, platform validation, or hardware debug.
Experience maintaining BOMs, revision-controlled design files, fabrication packages, assembly instructions, or PLM/system-of-record data.

Internship experience and compensation

This is a paid, hourly U.S. internship. The applicable hourly rate is determined as part of the offer process and specified in the offer letter, depending on education level ranges from $35/hour to $55/hour. U.S. interns currently receive a $500-per-week housing/relocation stipend for the duration of the internship. Interns participate in Early Career programming, including technical and professional-development sessions, community events, and an end-of-program project presentation.

Equal opportunity

Astera Labs is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage anyone with relevant experience to apply.

About the company

Astera Labs designs chips and hardware modules that move data between processors, memory and accelerators in data centers. Its customers include cloud providers, chip vendors and equipment makers building servers and large computing clusters for AI and other workloads. Retimers restore signal quality, switches connect devices and memory controllers expand the memory available to computing systems, while COSMOS software monitors and manages these links. The company sells its products directly and through distributors, using outside manufacturers to fabricate and assemble its hardware. Astera Labs was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

Santa Clara, California

Founded

2017

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

Revenue grew rapidly: Astera's August 2026 release reported preliminary Q2 revenue of $392.4 million, up 104% yearly.
Memory products broadened: Astera announced three new Leo controllers in September 2026, with the family sampling to hyperscalers.
Managers have a published pay band: Astera's live San Jose Ethernet applications role lists base pay of $158,400 to $230,000.

What critics are saying

Revenue is concentrated: Astera's February 2026 filing says three end customers generated 86% of fiscal 2025 revenue.
Chip production has one foundry: Astera's annual filing says TSMC fabricates all its integrated circuits.
Customer support involves travel: Astera's live San Jose Ethernet applications manager role requires travel within the US and Asia.

What makes Astera Labs unique

Hardware health is visible: Astera's COSMOS software monitors link performance, temperature and signal quality across systems.
Switches connect large clusters: Astera's Scorpio X-Series supports up to 80 accelerators per switch across 320 data lanes.
Integration gets tested early: Astera's Cloud-Scale Interop Lab checks switches against diverse PCIe hosts and endpoints.

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Benefits

401(k) Retirement Plan
Flexible Work Hours

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

1 year growth

2 year growth

Yahoo Finance

Oct 20th, 2026

Astera Labs, valued at $50B, doubles revenue but trades at 178x earnings: S&P 500 ready?

Astera Labs, which makes chips and hardware that move data inside AI data centres, is emerging as a contender for the S&P 500 Index. The company, valued at roughly $50 billion, went public in March 2024 and is now profitable. Revenue rose about 104.5% over the past year as hyperscalers spent heavily on AI infrastructure. The company recently launched its Aries 7 portfolio of high-speed links. The stock trades near 178 times trailing earnings and about 56 times expected profit next year. Northland downgraded it on valuation, and the shares sit well below their $499 high. Astera also relies on a small group of hyperscale buyers. Hedge fund holders rose to 73 at the end of the second quarter of 2026, from 53 the quarter before.

Yahoo Finance

Oct 20th, 2026

Micron up 350%, but SK Hynix, Sandisk and Astera Labs may offer faster growth

Micron's stock has risen about 350% in a year, but three rival memory stocks may offer better value, according to one analyst view. SK Hynix posted second-quarter revenue of 79.3 trillion Korean won (about $54.9 billion), up 257% year over year and 51% sequentially. Micron grew 31% sequentially. SK Hynix also has a lower market cap and a more attractive P/E ratio. Sandisk shares have surged more than 800% in a year. It expects fiscal 2027 first-quarter revenue of up to $10.8 billion, or 20.4% sequential growth. Astera Labs, which builds rack-scale AI infrastructure, more than doubled its second-quarter sales. It guides to $550 million in third-quarter sales at the midpoint, a 40.2% sequential rise.

Yahoo Finance

Oct 17th, 2026

Northland downgrades Astera Labs on valuation despite $540M–$560M Q3 revenue guidance

Northland Capital Markets downgraded Astera Labs to "Market Perform" from "Outperform" on October 9, citing valuation concerns, even though it expects earnings to rise. Analyst Gus Richard said shares had passed Northland's earlier target, but he still sees estimates climbing as the Scorpio X AI switch ramps up. Astera expects third-quarter revenue of $540 million to $560 million, up from a record $392.4 million in the second quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per share are guided to $1.16 to $1.21, against $0.80 in the previous quarter. The growth leans on one lead customer, though more than 10 customers are engaged on Scorpio X. Shares closed at $285.82 on October 16, about 43% below their June peak of $499.48. Fubon Securities recently began coverage with a "Buy" rating and a $500 price target.

Converge! Network Digest

Oct 12th, 2026

Astera Labs' Orion rack supports Up to 160 accelerators.

Astera Labs' Orion rack supports Up to 160 accelerators. Astera Labs introduces Orion, a compute-agnostic rack-scale AI inference architecture supporting up to 160 accelerators per pod through a 320-lane PCIe fabric, modular reference designs, and COSMOS management software. Astera Labs (Nasdaq: ALAB) introduced Orion, a compute-agnostic rack-scale reference architecture designed to support AI inference deployments with up to 160 accelerators per pod. Announced at the 2026 Open Compute Project Global Summit in San Jose, Orion combines a high-radix, 320-lane PCIe switching fabric with modular compute, memory and connectivity subsystems. Operators can select GPUs, CPUs and other accelerators based on workload requirements, availability and cost rather than committing to a single compute platform. Orion comprises six production-grade reference designs covering the complete rack, compute trays, fabric trays, memory trays, link boards and compute boards. The designs aim to reduce integration and validation work for OEMs and ODMs while allowing different accelerator configurations within a common infrastructure. COSMOS Rack Manager and COSMOS Fabric Manager provide orchestration, telemetry, diagnostics and fabric management. Astera Labs will design and validate the reference architecture and subsystems rather than manufacture complete racks. OEM and ODM partners are expected to offer Orion-based systems beginning in Q1 2027. At OCP Global Summit October 12-15, Astera Labs is demonstrating a powered Orion rack with interchangeable, pre-validated compute trays. | ORION - KEY FACTS | | - Compute-agnostic architecture with interchangeable CPU/GPU options | | - Up to 160 accelerators per pod; 320-lane PCIe switch fabric | | - Six reference designs: rack, compute tray, fabric tray, memory tray, link board and compute board | | - COSMOS Rack Manager and Fabric Manager | | - UALink on roadmap; OEM/ODM availability targeted Q1 2027 | Analysis: Orion extends Astera Labs beyond individual connectivity components toward defining how those components are integrated into AI infrastructure. Its existing portfolio includes Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches, Aries signal conditioners, Leo Smart Memory Controllers, Taurus Ethernet connectivity and COSMOS management software. The announcement does not specify that every Orion configuration uses every product family. The PCIe fabric is intended to accommodate heterogeneous inference workloads. Actual throughput will depend on PCIe generation, topology, aggregate bandwidth, accelerator and memory configurations, software and workload characteristics. Astera Labs has not disclosed independently verified benchmarks establishing improvements in tokens per second or tokens per dollar against specific competing systems. Dedicated memory trays could help operators configure memory resources separately from compute, relevant to model weights and key-value caches. Benefits depend on memory access mechanisms, accelerator compatibility, latency and bandwidth. For neoclouds, modular infrastructure may reduce exposure to accelerator procurement constraints, although actual capital savings depend on configuration, utilization and integration costs. UALink is on Orion's future interconnect roadmap, not a confirmed feature of the initial release. Key commercial milestones include naming OEM and ODM partners, supported accelerators, customer deployments, pricing and measured inference performance. | ASTERA LABS | COMPANY PROFILE | | Headquarters | San Jose, California | | Ticker | NASDAQ: ALAB | | Products | Scorpio, Aries, Leo, Taurus, COSMOS, Orion | | Technology | PCIe, CXL, Ethernet, NVLink Fusion; UALink roadmap | | Markets | Hyperscalers, neoclouds, enterprise AI | | Website | asteralabs.com | | RELATED CONVERGE DIGEST COVERAGE | | For related reporting on Astera Labs PCIe, CXL, Scorpio, Aries and Leo technologies, see the Converge Digest archive: Astera Labs coverage. Individual article links from the draft have not been independently verified. | Converge Digest is tracking AI infrastructure developments. Follow ongoing coverage at Converge Digest AI Infrastructure. Help others discover this reporting. Editorial responsibility Jim Carroll. Editor & Publisher Every article published by Converge Digest is researched, curated, fact-checked and editorially reviewed by Jim Carroll, Editor & Publisher. AI-assisted drafting may be used to accelerate production, but all content is reviewed, refined and approved prior to publication. Builders & Visionaries The people who opened the doors to the networks Converge Digest run today. Which of these co-founded Astera Labs? On this day. October 12 From 25 years of the Converge Digest archive.

Yahoo Finance

Oct 12th, 2026

Astera Labs unveils Orion, a GPU-agnostic rack design scaling to 160 accelerators per pod

Astera Labs (Nasdaq: ALAB) has unveiled Orion, a modular rack-scale reference design that lets customers choose their own GPUs and CPUs. The designs target neoclouds and enterprises building AI inference capacity. Orion's PCIe switch fabric scales from 8 to 160 accelerators per pod. It includes six reference designs, covering the rack, compute tray, fabric tray, memory tray, link board, and compute board, all managed by Astera's COSMOS software. Astera Labs will not build the racks. Original design manufacturer and original equipment manufacturer partners will make and sell them, with availability expected from Q1 2027. The company will show a powered Orion rack at the Open Compute Project Global Summit in San Jose, October 12-15. It plans to extend Orion to other open interconnects, including UALink.

Astera Labs

Platform Solutions Engineer Intern

About the job