Staff Power Electronics Engineer

CesiumAstro•El Segundo, CA

About The Position

CesiumAstro is seeking a Staff Power Electronics Engineer to join its spacecraft payload development team. The role contributes throughout the development lifecycle of power electronics hardware for satellites and space power systems payloads, including power system architecture and trade studies, circuit design and simulation, PCB layout, verification and integration testing, production transition, and manufacturing support. The position also leads project execution for a small team of power electronics engineers, mentors less experienced engineers, and supports innovation through research and monitoring industry trends. Applicants must meet U.S. Government space technology export-control eligibility requirements: be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, conditional resident, asylee, or refugee, or be eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree or higher in Electrical Engineering or a related field from an accredited university.
At least 9 years of experience designing analog and power electronics.
Experience developing electrical power system architectures and requirements, performing size, weight, power, and cost optimization trade studies, selecting power converter topologies, and defining power management and control blocks.
Experience modeling and controlling DC-DC converters and designing power stages for isolated and non-isolated converters, including linear regulators, Buck, Boost, Buck-boost, Flyback, Forward, Half-bridge, Full bridge, and Resonant converters.
Experience designing custom signal and power magnetics and power filters for low noise and electromagnetic compatibility.
Experience developing verification plans, requirement compliance matrices, integration and qualification test plans, and production acceptance test plans.
Experience performing worst-case circuit analysis, stress analysis, failure modes and effects analysis, and reliability analysis for power supplies.
Extensive hands-on experience testing and troubleshooting electronics and power converters with laboratory instruments such as oscilloscopes, impedance analyzers, spectrum analyzers, electronic loads, and signal generators.
Experience with schematic capture and PCB layout tools such as Altium, OrCAD, Allegro, or Xpedition.
Experience with analysis and simulation tools such as SPICE, LTSPICE, SIMetrix/SIMPLIS, PLECS, Simulink, MATLAB, MathCAD, ANSYS Q3D and SiWave, or HyperLynx.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Meet U.S. Government space technology export-control eligibility requirements stated in the posting.

Nice To Haves

Master of Science or PhD in Electrical Engineering with a research focus in power electronics.
Experience designing high-reliability analog and power electronics for automotive, space, or defense applications.
Knowledge of space radiation environments and radiation effects in electronics.
Experience with GaN or SiC wide-bandgap power semiconductor devices.
Experience running board-level power integrity simulations using tools such as Ansys SiWave or HyperLynx.
Experience with soft-switching and resonant power converter topologies, such as LLC, CLLC, series resonant, phase-shifted full bridge, or dual active bridge.
Experience designing power stages for inverters and motor drives.
Knowledge of modeling and control of inverters and motor drives.
Experience with advanced DC-DC converter control schemes, such as voltage mode with feedforward control, constant on-time control, V2 constant on-time control, phase-shift modulation, or average current mode control.
Experience with isolation and grounding, failure mode effects analysis, fault-tolerant design, and thermal management of power electronics.
Programming skills supporting hardware testing and data processing, such as Python or MATLAB.
Knowledge of maximum power point tracking for solar power applications, battery sizing and battery management systems, electric propulsion power conversion, and spacecraft power conditioning, management, and distribution units.
Experience designing and testing power electronics units to automotive, industrial, space, or military standards and requirements, such as FCC, CISPR, UL safety, ECSS, NASA, or MIL standards.

Responsibilities

Define electrical power system architecture and derive power subsystem requirements.
Design DC-DC power converters, motor drives, inverters, and power management and control circuits from concept through production release.
Design low- to high-complexity analog and power electronics circuits, from individual DC-DC converters to multi-output power supply modules.
Model and analyze analog and power electronics designs, including worst-case circuit analysis, stress analysis, small-signal modeling, failure modes and effects analysis, reliability analysis, and power integrity analysis.
Develop design verification test plans, requirement compliance matrices, system integration and qualification test plans, and production acceptance test plans for power converters and power supplies.
Lead board bring-up and design verification testing of power electronics circuits and modules.
Lead system integration, qualification campaigns, and release of analog and power electronics designs into production.
Mentor less experienced engineers and foster knowledge sharing.
Lead a small team of power electronics engineers to drive project execution.
Research and monitor power electronics industry trends to drive innovation and generate intellectual property.