Digital Power Controls Engineer

LayerZero Power Systems.•Raleigh, NC

About The Position

LayerZero Power Systems, Inc. is seeking a Digital Power Controls Engineer to develop embedded firmware for advanced power conversion systems and energy infrastructure products. The role focuses on designing, implementing, testing, and optimizing real-time control algorithms for AC/DC power conversion systems, while supporting system monitoring, communications, protection, and safety functions. Relevant applications include converters, inverters, UPS systems, battery energy storage systems, EV charging systems, and other digitally controlled power conversion products. The engineer will develop and tune closed-loop digital control for power converters, work with MCU/DSP peripherals and real-time embedded architectures, and analyze converter dynamics and control-loop stability. The position also supports hardware bring-up and control validation, protection and fault-handling functions, converter-module coordination, communications and system integration, product qualification, and investigation of field and manufacturing issues. The engineer will collaborate with the Power Electronics Design Lead and with system, controls, and software engineers. LayerZero describes itself as a growing provider of power-management products for mission- and process-critical applications, serving customers in computer services, semiconductor manufacturing, and financial sectors. The company offers competitive pay with performance incentives, company-paid insurance, retirement matching, and paid time off. It emphasizes impact, innovation, collaboration, and employee development, and states that it is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to an inclusive environment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
5–10+ years of embedded firmware development experience, as stated in the posting.
Hands-on experience implementing or tuning closed-loop digital control for a power converter, inverter, rectifier, or comparable power-electronics system.
Strong proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems development.
Experience with microcontrollers, DSPs, ARM-based processors, or real-time embedded platforms.
Practical understanding of PWM switching, ADC sampling, real-time control-loop timing, and digital control implementation.
Experience debugging embedded control systems integrated with physical hardware and validating performance through instrumented testing.
Working knowledge of control-loop stability, compensator design, and converter transient response.
Knowledge of digital control systems, power-electronics fundamentals, real-time operating systems (RTOS), embedded communications protocols, fault management and protection systems, and control-loop design and implementation.

Nice To Haves

Experience with three-phase active rectifiers, high-voltage DC links, or bidirectional AC/DC and DC/DC conversion.
Experience with parallel converter operation, current sharing, and modular power-conversion architectures.
Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, automated control validation, and model-based development.
Experience with DSP-based digital power controllers or MCU platforms equipped with high-resolution PWM and synchronized ADC peripherals.
Experience with MATLAB/Simulink, code-generation tools, and model-based design.
Familiarity with UL, IEC, IEEE, and functional safety standards.

Responsibilities

Develop embedded firmware for real-time control of AC/DC and DC/DC power-conversion stages.
Design, implement, and optimize control algorithms for converters, inverters, rectifiers, and related systems.
Develop firmware using real-time embedded architectures and microcontroller/DSP platforms.
Support firmware verification, validation, debugging, and performance optimization.
Develop and tune closed-loop digital control algorithms for switching converters, including current regulation, DC-bus voltage regulation, power control, and transient response.
Implement and validate real-time control using MCU/DSP peripherals, including synchronized ADC sampling, PWM generation, interrupt-driven execution, and deterministic control-loop timing.
Analyze converter dynamics and control-loop stability, including compensator design, bandwidth, phase margin, and response to input and load disturbances.
Support converter hardware bring-up and control validation using appropriate instruments and test systems.
Collaborate with the Power Electronics Design Lead to validate control performance against power-stage models, simulation results, and measured hardware behavior.
Develop converter state machines for startup, precharge coordination, enable/disable sequencing, fault handling, controlled shutdown, and restart interlocks.
Implement firmware-based fault detection, monitoring, and protection coordination for overcurrent, overvoltage, undervoltage, overtemperature, and other system-level safety requirements.
Develop safety permissives and protection-coordination strategies with the Power Electronics Design Lead.
Support parallel converter operation, including module coordination, current or power sharing, DC-bus regulation, and fault response as applicable.
Implement droop regulation on AC and DC.
Develop and maintain Modbus interfaces for telemetry, configuration, diagnostics, alarms, and event logging.
Support integration of additional communications protocols, including CAN, Ethernet, TCP/IP, RS-485, UART, SPI, and I²C.
Partner with system, controls, and software engineers to support product integration.
Support HMI, supervisory-controller, and cloud-connectivity interfaces.
Participate in system architecture discussions and firmware design reviews.
Develop firmware requirements, design documentation, and test procedures.
Support prototype bring-up, hardware integration, and product qualification.
Contribute to root-cause analysis and corrective actions for field and manufacturing issues.