Senior Power Electronics Engineer

Salient Motion•Hawthorne, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

We are hiring a Senior Power Electronics Engineer to lead the design and integration of high-power (>10 kW) power conversion hardware for aerospace motion and electrical systems. You will own key power-stage architecture decisions, drive prototype bring-up and verification, and partner with controls, firmware, mechanical, and manufacturing teams to deliver flight- and mission-ready hardware.

Requirements

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, protection, and high-voltage, high-current PCB/layout practices
Hands-on bring-up and debug experience with high-power hardware (safe lab practices, oscilloscopes, HV differential probes, current probes, power analyzers, network/stability analyzers)
Ability to take designs from concept through prototype, verification, and production readiness with clear documentation to meet special and mission-oriented applications’ requirement
U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) to meet customer and regulatory requirements

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated work on high-power systems (>10 kW)
Aerospace experience: qualification mindset, configuration control, and familiarity with relevant test practices and EMI/EMC test workflows
Motor drive experience: three-phase inverters for BLDC/PMSM, sensing, DC bus design, regen handling, and protection timing considerations
High-voltage design experience (e.g., 200-800 VDC class) including isolation strategy and creepage/clearance design
Power factor, total harmonic current distortion and EMI/EMC success in shipped products (e.g., MIL-STD-461/DO-160 standard specs) and ability to design for compliance early
Safety qualification experience such as leakage current, ESD, lightning and surge test
Circuit Simulation familiarity (LTspice/PLECS/Simetrix/Simplis/Simulink or similar) for validation and trade-off
PCB CAD and layout tool experience and familiarity

Responsibilities

Architect and design high-power converters/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 (as appropriate) and design gate-drive, controller, feedback stability, magnetic components including power inductors and transformers, sensing, and protection (short-circuit, overcurrent, over/undervoltage, thermal, desaturation)
Design topologies and the power stage (DC bus, precharge/discharge, snubbers/clamps, current sensing, filtering) and define safe operating envelopes and derating at given environments
Drive thermal design with mechanical engineering (heatsinks, cold plates, airflow/liquid cooling) and validate junction-to-ambient performance including loss breakdown, thermal analysis
Own EMI/EMC strategy for aerospace environments: grounding, shielding, layout constraints, conducted/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 prototype bring-up and high-power lab testing with safe procedures; debug failures and perform root-cause analysis
Define verification plans and acceptance criteria and produce clear, review-ready test reports and evidence packages; support supplier/parts selection and DFM/DFT as designs transition to manufacturing