Senior Hardware Design Engineer, Power Electronics

Tau•Redwood City, CA

6d•$155,000 - $185,000•Onsite

About The Position

Tau is a venture-backed hardtech company in Redwood City developing power-conversion technology for data centers, electric vehicles, and energy systems, with products moving into production. The Senior Hardware Design Engineer, Power Electronics will develop advanced power-electronics systems for next-generation electric vehicles and energy-storage solutions, contributing to Tau’s technology roadmap and products. The role may also offer growth opportunities in modeling, control, and firmware. Employees are expected to work onsite five days per week. The position focuses on designing, building, and validating power-converter circuits and systems, including schematics and PCB layouts for AC/DC, DC/DC, and DC/AC converters. The engineer will produce robust high-voltage layouts, analyze and validate designs, release production outputs, collaborate with manufacturing partners, and bring up and debug boards in the lab. Tau emphasizes solving customer problems, systems thinking, sound engineering judgment, and raising the quality and effectiveness of the team’s work.

Requirements

Degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field, or equivalent experience.
At least 5 years of hardware and PCB design experience in power electronics, preferably in automotive, EV charging, or high-voltage conversion.
Hands-on schematic and layout experience with onboard chargers, bidirectional chargers, inverters, or isolated converters.
Understanding of how layout affects switching waveforms, losses, and EMI.
Experience designing and laying out SiC/GaN power stages, gate drivers, and protection circuits.
Proficiency with Altium, Cadence Allegro/OrCAD, or Siemens Xpedition/PADS.
Expertise in stackups, heavy copper, impedance control, and mixed-signal layout.
Knowledge of high-voltage spacing rules and thermal design for high-current boards.
Experience releasing boards to volume production.
Strong lab skills, including use of oscilloscopes, current probes, and power analyzers.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with UL, CE, EMC, and automotive reliability standards such as AEC-Q and IATF 16949.
Experience with simulation tools such as SPICE, HyperLynx, SIwave, Icepak, or Q3D.

Responsibilities

Design schematics and PCB layouts for AC/DC, DC/DC, and DC/AC converters, including PFC, isolated DC/DC, inverter, and onboard-charger stages.
Lay out silicon, SiC, and GaN power stages to achieve low commutation-loop inductance, low parasitic capacitance, and clean switching behavior.
Design and route gate-drive, isolation, and protection circuits for noise immunity and robustness to common-mode transients.
Define board stackups, power and signal planes, heavy-copper current paths, and grounding for mixed-signal boards with analog sensing, ADCs/DACs, and microcontrollers.
Apply creepage, clearance, and insulation requirements to high-voltage designs.
Optimize layouts for thermal performance and EMC compliance.
Select components and integrate magnetics and capacitors, considering field coupling, ripple-current paths, and mechanical fit.
Build and maintain component-library footprints, symbols, and 3D models.
Run PI/SI, thermal, and parasitic-extraction analyses to verify layouts before fabrication.
Release fabrication and assembly outputs, including Gerber/ODB++, drill files, and fabrication and assembly drawings, applying DFM/DFA/DFT and IPC standards.
Work with fabrication houses and contract manufacturers to resolve build issues and improve yield.
Bring up, debug, and validate boards in the lab, and use results to guide layout revisions.

Benefits

Annual performance bonus may be included in the total compensation package.
Equity and other incentive compensation plans may be included in the total compensation package.
Stock options.
Flexible time off.
Paid holidays.
Medical insurance.
Dental insurance.
Vision insurance.
Life insurance.
401(k).
HSA benefits.
FSA benefits.
Commuter benefits.