Avionics Engineer II - Inverter Development

BLUE ORIGIN•Seattle, WA

80d•$107,136 - $149,990

About The Position

This role supports the development and operations of New Glenn, a single-configuration, heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle capable of routinely carrying people and payloads to low-Earth orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, cislunar, and beyond. Its first stage is fully reusable, and the vehicle was designed from the beginning to be human-capable. As part of a small, hardworking, and accomplished team of experts, you will design and qualify three-phase motor drive inverters that power New Glenn's electromechanical systems. You will own inverter development from concept through qualification, working closely with controls, software, mechanical, and actuator teams to deliver drives that meet demanding requirements in a launch vehicle environment. We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise and dedication to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, or related field.
3+ years of hands-on electrical engineering design experience in power electronics, or a Master of Science plus 1+ year design experience.
Demonstrated experience designing and testing custom power electronics, including specific knowledge in switching device selection, isolated gate drive, dead-time setting, DC link capacitor sizing, phase current sensing, and protection schemes.
Working knowledge of PMSM/BLDC motor control fundamentals: field-oriented control, PWM modulation strategies, and closed current and velocity loops.
Experience with analog, digital, or mixed-signal circuit design, including analysis, simulation, test, troubleshooting, and part selection.
Familiar with many of the following parts and their usage: isolated gate drivers, Si and SiC MOSFETs, IGBTs, current sensors (shunt, hall, fluxgate), ADCs, DACs, op-amps, power supplies (linear, LDO, DC/DC), and processors (MCU, DSP, FPGA).
Experience with schematic capture and PCB layout for custom PCBA designs.
Hands-on proficiency with lab test equipment: oscilloscopes, high-bandwidth current probes, power analyzers, and motor or inertial load test setups.
Desire to work hands-on, both independently and as part of a team, throughout the development and production phases of the electronic assembly product lifecycle.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, or related field.
Motor drive design experience in aerospace, space, defense, automotive traction, or industrial servo applications.
Wide-bandgap power device design experience (SiC MOSFET or GaN HEMT), including gate loop and layout optimization and device paralleling.
High-voltage power electronic design experience, including corona and partial discharge mitigation for high-altitude and vacuum operation, insulation coordination, and potting/encapsulation.
Experience characterizing switching losses via double-pulse testing.
Proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink, SPICE, and PLECS or PSIM or similar modeling/analysis tools.
EMI/EMC design and test experience to MIL-STD-461, DO-160, or similar.
Experience with electromechanical actuator, thrust vector control, valve actuation, or turbopump drive systems.
Experience developing products from early trade studies through final design, manufacturing, and testing.

Responsibilities

Design three-phase motor drive inverters across the product life cycle: concept and requirements definition, design, analysis, prototyping, test and verification up to final release to production.
Support implementation and testing of motor control: field-oriented control, current and velocity loops, and position feedback, in partnership with controls and software engineers.
Contribute to architecture trade studies, analyses, performance characterization, and fault tolerance trades.
Support design risk analyses, worst-case circuit analysis and parts derating, failure modes effects and criticality analyses (FMECA), design for test/manufacture/cost (DFx), and root-cause analysis of test anomalies.
Plan and execute hands-on lab testing, including EMI testing, and environmental qualification (random vibration, shock, thermal cycling, thermal vacuum).
Coordinate with systems engineering and electromechanical actuator teams on requirements, integration, and test.
Effectively communicate development status, risks, and challenges to management.