Staff Electrical Systems & Sustaining Engineer

Mainspring Energy•Menlo Park, CA

1d•$157,250 - $185,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Mainspring Energy is looking for a highly autonomous, intellectually curious Senior Electrical Systems & Sustaining Engineer to anchor a brand-new sub-team within our Electrical Engineering (EE) organization. This is a high-visibility engineering position built for an organizational anchor and leader. As the inaugural member of this sub-team, you will have the execution autonomy to establish the foundational sustaining framework for the entire EE department, creating a blueprint for the team's future expansion. At Mainspring, we are pioneering a new category of fuel-flexible power generation to enable a clean, reliable, and affordable electric grid. As we scale production and rapidly expand our commercial fleet, maintaining flawless hardware integrity is vital to our mission. In this role, you will step in as the technical execution lead for problem resolution across all electrical domains—spanning from low-voltage electronics to complex power conversion systems—acting as the operational shield for our core design groups. This position is ideal for an electrical expert who enjoys working on complex systems and has a keen eye for detail.

Requirements

8+ years of experience with a Bachelor's degree, or 4+ years of experience with a Master's degree, in Electrical Engineering or a related field. This background must be in an Electrical, Product, or Reliability Engineering capacity with a clear track record of owning complex circuit/schematic analysis, physics-based root-cause investigations, and the full engineering change (EC) design lifecycle
Strong foundational expertise in complex electronics and hardware systems (preference for broad mechatronics/electronics experience over purely facility power systems)
Proven competency in a physical hardware lab environment setting up test benches, instrumenting hardware under test, and maintaining clean, safe laboratory testing practices
A genuine passion for hardware debugging and structured root-cause failure analysis (e.g., 8D, 5 Why, Fishbone diagrams) on complex physical systems. You are not satisfied with the first layer of failure and have a tenacity towards finding the true root cause
Directly drive the continuous improvement of our deployed hardware ecosystem. You will have the technical authority to own and execute the engineering change lifecycle—from designing and releasing targeted PCBA revisions to identifying, testing, and qualifying strategic off-the-shelf (OTS) components—to permanently eliminate failure modes and elevate system robustness
The ability to zoom out and understand complex interdependencies across circuitry, firmware, manufacturing and mechanical wear mechanisms within a massive multi-domain machine
Embody Mainspring's foundational pillars on a daily basis: bring Pragmatic Optimism to highly complex engineering challenges, exercise Excellence without Ego when collecting or delivering rigorous technical feedback, and drive Proactive Collaboration across separate team boundaries

Nice To Haves

Experience navigating the full hardware development life cycle—from initial requirements gathering and schematic capture through manufacturing optimization and sustaining field support
Prior experience working within formal CAPA structures, quality management frameworks, and bug/incident tracking ecosystems (e.g., Jira, Confluence)
Prior experience working within a startup, rapid product development environment, or a scaling hardware company where agility and self-direction are mandatory
Proficiency with professional ECAD software layout and schematic design tools, preferably Altium Designer
Familiarity with the Python for data parsing, automated test script creation, or querying hardware telemetry logs
Experience utilizing Git-based version control workflows (GitHub or GitLab) for tracking hardware code, scripts, or engineering documentation

Responsibilities

Serve as the single point of contact for all EE Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) issues. Take charge of investigating fleet issues, establishing immediate containment paths, and driving permanent resolutions
Conduct intensive hands-on electrical lab bench testing to reproduce fleet and manufacturing anomalies. Utilize standard laboratory diagnostic equipment (oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, power supplies, logic analyzers, and electronic loads) to validate containment strategies and prove out root-cause theories
Lead end-to-end problem resolution spanning from initial telemetry data parsing to deep-dive root cause analysis. Partner closely with our internal Failure Analysis (FA) experts to diagnose complex electronics and hardware system failures
Directly drive the continuous improvement of our deployed hardware ecosystem. You will have the technical authority to own and execute the engineering change lifecycle—from designing and releasing targeted PCBA revisions to identifying, testing, and qualifying strategic off-the-shelf (OTS) components—to permanently eliminate failure modes and improve system performance
Act as the authoritative EE voice on the cross-functional CAPA Tiger Team. Interface daily with Core Reliability, Mechanical, Software, and Manufacturing teams to ensure a unified approach to system-level reliability
Function as the primary gatekeeper for incoming electrical engineering challenges. For specialized issues, triage, prioritize, and collaboratively map out resolution strategies with design specialists across the EE department
Own and optimize the EE Atlassian/Jira Problem dashboard. Systematically track, analyze, and report on key performance indicators (e.g., Mean-Time-Between-Swaps/MTBSwap) to demonstrably reduce field failure rates and eBox replacements
Author comprehensive failure analysis reports, root-cause whitepapers, and standardized electrical triage workflows. You will turn deep-dive technical findings into institutional knowledge, creating the foundational documentation required to scale this sub-team and uplevel the broader engineering organization