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.

About the role

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.

Internship experience and compensation