Platform Solutions Engineer Intern (MechE)

About the role

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.

Pay and benefits

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.