Senior Power Electronics Engineer

Salient Motion•Hawthorne, CA

5d•$175,000 - $200,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Power Electronics Engineer will lead the design and integration of high-power (>10 kW) power-conversion hardware for aerospace motion and electrical systems. The role owns key power-stage architecture decisions, drives prototype bring-up and verification, and partners with controls, firmware, mechanical, and manufacturing teams to deliver flight- and mission-ready hardware. The company is located in Hawthorne, California, has moved into a new large hangar facility, and is open to relocating candidates. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents to meet customer and regulatory requirements. The role may involve export-controlled information or hardware, and candidates must be able to comply with applicable export-control laws and access requirements.

Requirements

At least 7 years, or equivalent depth, in power electronics design and product development.
Strong experience with power converter/inverter topologies, architecture, device selection, gate-drive design, controller selection, feedback gain, stability margin, and protection.
Experience with high-voltage, high-current PCB and layout practices.
Hands-on high-power hardware bring-up and debugging experience, including safe lab practices and use of oscilloscopes, HV differential probes, current probes, power analyzers, and network/stability analyzers.
Ability to take designs from concept through prototype, verification, and production readiness, with clear documentation for special and mission-oriented application requirements.
Must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident to meet customer and regulatory requirements.
Must be able to comply with applicable export-control laws and access requirements.

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated work on high-power systems (>10 kW).
Aerospace experience, including a qualification mindset, configuration control, relevant test practices, and EMI/EMC test workflows.
Motor-drive experience, including three-phase inverters for BLDC/PMSM, sensing, DC bus design, regenerative handling, and protection timing.
High-voltage design experience, such as 200–800 VDC systems, including isolation strategy and creepage/clearance design.
Power factor, total harmonic current distortion, and EMI/EMC success in shipped products, such as compliance with MIL-STD-461 or DO-160, and ability to design for compliance early.
Safety qualification experience, such as leakage-current, ESD, lightning, and surge testing.
Familiarity with circuit-simulation tools such as LTspice, PLECS, Simetrix, Simplis, Simulink, or similar.
Experience with PCB CAD and layout tools.

Responsibilities

Architect and design high-power converters and inverters (>10 kW) for aerospace electrical and motion-control products, balancing efficiency, power density, and reliability.
Select and apply Si, SiC, and/or GaN power devices; design gate drives, controllers, feedback stability, magnetic components, sensing, and protection.
Design power-stage topologies and components, including DC bus, precharge/discharge, snubbers/clamps, current sensing, and filtering; define safe operating envelopes and environmental derating.
Drive thermal design with mechanical engineering, including heatsinks, cold plates, and airflow or liquid cooling; validate junction-to-ambient performance through loss breakdown and thermal analysis.
Own EMI/EMC strategy for aerospace environments, including grounding, shielding, layout constraints, conducted and radiated mitigation, filter design, and test readiness.
Lead schematic capture and review PCB layout for low-inductance, high-current/high-voltage design; ensure creepage, clearance, isolation, and safety best practices.
Plan and execute safe prototype bring-up and high-power lab testing; debug failures and conduct root-cause analysis.
Define verification plans and acceptance criteria, and produce review-ready test reports and evidence packages.
Support supplier and parts selection, design for manufacturing, and design for test as designs transition to manufacturing.
Collaborate with controls, firmware, mechanical, and manufacturing teams to deliver flight- and mission-ready hardware.