When Layout Learns: This Is Not Your Mother’s Auto-router

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

For decades, automated PCB layout has carried a reputation designers would rather forget. Ben Jordan understands the skepticism. With roots in both engineering and EDA product leadership, he’s seen the promise and the pitfalls up close. Now at Quilter, Ben is helping reshape what machine-driven placement and routing can deliver. Powered by reinforcement learning and modern compute, Quilter is tackling the backlog, iteration overload, and talent shortage facing design teams today.

Marcy LaRont: Ben, please share some of your background and how you came to Quilter.

Ben Jordan: I am an embedded hardware engineer, but I've been involved in electronics and hardware design for a long time. I'm also a CID+ certified Advanced Interconnect (PCB) Designer. I’ve sent boards to fabrication and assembly, through to high-volume production in Asia, so I’ve lived the consequences of design decisions. In my experience over the past 30+ years, having both the engineering foundation and an understanding of PCB design and manufacturing ultimately leads to better results.

I spent 16 years at Altium, where I gained exposure to different types of electronics design and industry verticals. I was an FAE, a product manager, and an electronics and PCB subject matter expert. In 2020, during the pandemic, I moved to Autodesk as a senior product manager for the Fusion 360 Electronics product. I was involved in significant advancements, including a partnership between Autodesk and Ansys to integrate a field solver and provide parameter extraction and signal integrity capabilities. Then I was freelance engineering until I came to Quilter.

LaRont: What, in your work as a PCB designer made an impression on you when it came to the concept of auto-routing and any sort of AI assistance in design?

To continue reading this interview, which originally appeared in the March 2026 edition of I-Connect007 Magazine, click here.