Electrical Engineer (Industrial Automation)

Our Mission

At Span, we are building products to drive the rapid adoption of renewable energy by designing the infrastructure for a distributed, renewable grid. Our smart panel reinvents home electrical systems as part of the distributed grid and makes user-friendly renewable energy at the center of the smart home, presenting intelligent load-balancing and revolutionary edge-of-grid controls to homeowners through the Span mobile app.

The Role

Span’s Systems Engineering team is a cross-functional team that supports the Span engineering organization across the board. We are responsible for Span’s lab space and physical test infrastructure, run hardware and software tests, and create hardware and software for automated testing. As part of Systems Engineering you’ll get to work with teams across the company, and will get to work with a high degree of autonomy and ownership.

As an electrical engineer at Span, you will be a key contributor to the success and reliability of Span products by helping us create our automated electrical testing and integration lab. You'll work closely with our engineering teams to design and build test fixtures, complex control panels, and automated lab control systems. Your wide range of technical skills will help you understand the entire product and test stack, while your communication and documentation skills will help you join multi-disciplinary teams to successfully investigate and resolve issues.

Your attention to detail, conversational skills, and openness to feedback will ensure that issues in manufacturing are correctly prioritized and tracked until resolution.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Participate in concept, planning, and design of complex automated electrical systems

• Build and validate fixtures including mechanical assembly, electrical wiring, automation equipment, and computer control

• Implement safety equipment and procedures, apply any relevant standards to new and existing designs

• Work with external vendors and contractors for equipment purchases and custom fabrication

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer science, or related field

• 3+ years of experience in a fast-paced engineering development environment

• Proficient in basic electrical theory and understanding/drawing electrical circuits

• Experience with industrial electrical systems, control panels, safety interlocks, and guarding

• Comfortable understanding, drawing, and building from mechanical designs

• Ability to operate and maintain a wide variety of hand and power tools, shop tools, and lab equipment

• Experience with electrical assembly (wiring, soldering, DIN rail terminals, connectors)

• Experience with electrical test equipment (power supplies, power analyzers, oscilloscopes, etc)

• Strong interpersonal and communications skills

• A hacker’s instinct for making things work

• Local Bay Area candidate (some in-office work will be required)

Bonus Qualifications

• Ability to read and develop C source code for embedded systems

• Experience with home electrical wiring

• Experience with test-related hardware (sensors, data acquisition, pogo pin fixtures)

• Experience using 3D CAD and rapid prototyping tools

Life at Span

SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. 

Headquartered in San Francisco’s vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a ‘make it happen’ approach to addressing complex challenges. 

Our CEO, Arch Rao⁠—former head of the Tesla Powerwall team⁠—fosters an energetic and collaborative environment, with a strong emphasis on maintaining work-life-balance across the organization.

We’re hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN.

The Perks:

⚡ Competitive compensation + equity grants at a well-funded, venture-backed company

⚡ Comprehensive benefits (including medical; dental, vision, life and disability insurance)

⚡ Comfortable, sunny office space located near BART and Caltrain public transit

⚡ Strong focus on teambuilding and company culture (events, meet-ups, clubs)

⚡ Flexible hours and unlimited PTO

Our Mission & Values:

At SPAN, we believe that powering your home with clean energy should be a simple and delightful experience that is at its essence human-centered and technology-forward.

Our core values include:

• Making home energy more accessible, intuitive, and convenient.

• Enabling homes and vehicles to be powered by the sun.

• Building resilient homes with reliable power.

• All-electric everything.

• A more flexible & distributed grid.

Interested in joining our team? Submit an application today and we’ll be in touch with next steps!