Master Thesis - AI-Assisted PCB Development

Overview
Essity – a leading global hygiene and health company and the home of brands like Libero, TENA, Libresse, Tork, Sorbact and JOBST is offering an exciting and challenging master thesis opportunity for you who want to contribute with your expertise, energy and creativity.

About the job
Are you a student interested in exploring how artificial intelligence can change the way electronic products are designed? Essity is offering a Master Thesis where you will combine academic research with hands-on PCB development. You will investigate emerging AI-assisted engineering tools and test whether they can improve productivity without compromising engineering quality and trustworthiness.

Your role
You will work in two phases. First, you will perform a structured technology assessment of AI-assisted tools relevant to electronic development, including schematic capture, PCB layout, component selection, simulation and engineering documentation. Second, you will select one or more promising tools and apply them in a representative PCB design case. You will collaborate with experienced engineers, receive technical supervision and present evidence-based conclusions to relevant development teams.

Background
AI capabilities are rapidly being introduced into engineering toolchains, but their maturity, limitations and real industrial value are not yet well understood. Claims of faster development must be balanced against design correctness, transparency, repeatability, intellectual-property protection and the effort required to verify AI-generated output. Essity therefore wants to establish an objective basis for deciding where AI-assisted electronic design creates value and where established engineering methods remain necessary.

Project
The central research question is: Can AI-assisted electronic development improve productivity while maintaining engineering quality and trustworthiness?
The thesis will combine a literature and market review with an experimental case study. Together with the supervisors, you will define evaluation criteria and compare traditional and AI-assisted workflows. Possible measures include engineering time, number of iterations, rule violations, quality of design documentation, traceability, usability and the amount of expert validation required. The work should result in a reproducible evaluation method, a completed PCB design case and recommendations for future use of AI-assisted tools within Essity. The exact toolset and design case may be adapted to your academic interests and available tool access.

The project does not include development of new AI models, full product industrialization, certification or regulatory approval.

Your profile
We are looking for one or two Master’s students in electrical engineering, electronics, embedded systems, mechatronics, engineering physics or a related field. You should have a good understanding of electronic design and an interest in PCB development, engineering methods and AI. Experience with EDA tools, schematic design, PCB layout, simulation, scripting, data analysis or research methods is beneficial. You should be curious, structured and comfortable critically evaluating both technical performance and limitations.

This master thesis project will require close collaboration with our team and regular presence at our office in Gothenburg. Therefore, we are looking for students in Sweden who are either based in the Gothenburg area or can arrange accommodation locally for the duration of the project.

What you will be a part of
You will join Hardware Center of Excellence at Essity; A group working with connected products and electronic product development. The thesis offers access to experienced engineers, realistic development challenges and stakeholders from TENA iQ and Tork Vision Cleaning. Your work will contribute to Essity’s understanding of how emerging engineering technologies can support more efficient and reliable product development.

Application
Interested? If you are up for the challenge and think this sounds like you, apply online today! Kindly note that due to GDPR we will not accept applications via mail.

N.B.If you apply as a pair of students, send in one application each but make sure to clearly state in the application which person you intend to do the master thesis with.

Application End Date:
08 nov. 2026
Job Requisition ID:
Essity266195