Lab Strategy Engineer Intern

Lab Strategy Engineer Intern Location: San Jose, California, United States Employment type: Internship About the role We are looking for a Lab Strategy Engineer Intern to support the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems that power silicon bring-up, validation, and hardware-engineering labs. This is a hands-on role spanning lab-facility planning, infrastructure analysis, project coordination, and executive reporting. You will help track power, cooling, bench and rack utilization across multiple labs and support infrastructure planning for next-generation products, high-density AI/GPU racks, and thermal-validation equipment. You will collaborate with engineering, facilities, finance, procurement, and other partners to help labs meet demanding power, cooling, space, and operational requirements. What you’ll do • Perform three-phase power calculations for 208V and 480V systems and help analyze power requirements across lab spaces. • Monitor power supply and distribution across labs, identify capacity or utilization gaps, and support clear reporting of findings. • Track cooling capacity, including tons of cooling, and support planning for HVAC, CRAC, chilled-water loops, and liquid-cooling infrastructure such as cooling distribution units (CDUs). • Analyze bench and rack utilization across multiple labs and prepare Excel analyses, dashboards, and executive summaries. • Support infrastructure planning for high-density AI/GPU racks, thermal-validation equipment, silicon bring-up, and hardware-engineering lab environments. • Coordinate lab build-out, equipment-procurement, and facility-expansion activities by tracking requirements, owners, timelines, dependencies, and open issues. • Collaborate with engineering organizations, facilities, finance, procurement, and other stakeholders to align lab designs with power, cooling, space, safety, and product-validation needs. • Support sensor interfacing and infrastructure automation using basic C programming and other approved technical approaches. • Help document infrastructure assumptions, calculations, decisions, project status, and recommended next steps. • Identify risks, constraints, and opportunities to improve lab capacity planning, utilization, reporting, and repeatable project workflows. • Own a defined internship project with mentor support, provide progress updates, and present the project’s findings, documentation, and recommendations at the end of the internship. What you bring • Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering; new graduates or candidates with up to one year of experience may be considered. • Proficiency in basic C programming for sensor interfacing and automation. • Strong knowledge of electrical power distribution and electrical calculations. • Working understanding of air-conditioning principles and liquid cooling in laboratory or data-center environments. • Strong attention to detail and ability to analyze data using Excel, dashboards, and executive summaries. • Foundational project-management skills and ability to coordinate across engineering, facilities, finance, procurement, and other teams. • Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to explain technical findings clearly to engineering and executive audiences. • Ability to manage multiple priorities, maintain accurate documentation, follow through on commitments, and adapt when project scope or priorities change. • A safety-conscious, collaborative, learning-oriented approach and sound judgment in a hands-on lab environment. Preferred qualifications • Familiarity with Oracle Fusion Cloud or other enterprise resource planning systems. • Exposure to building-management systems, facilities monitoring, or infrastructure controls. • Familiarity with electrostatic-discharge (ESD) protocols and safe practices in semiconductor or hardware-validation environments. • Experience or coursework related to semiconductor validation labs, data centers, high-density compute, thermal testing, or lab facilities. • Experience with dashboards, capacity planning, project tracking, or executive reporting. • Agentic AI programming skills or interest in applying AI to infrastructure monitoring, analysis, or automation. 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. 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.