R&D Power Electronics Engineer - Magnetics

Our Mission  

SPAN develops products that accelerate the rapid adoption of renewable energy in the home. The flagship SPAN Smart Panel is the first true evolution for the traditional home electric panel, harnessing enhanced technology for metering, monitoring, and control. An expanded product suite of intelligent, integrated solutions radically lowers the cost and complexity of energy upgrades–including solar, batteries and EVs–empowering homeowners to be active, resilient and informed players in the energy market. 

The Role 

We are seeking an experienced and driven power electronics engineer to lead the development of new technologies for home electrification. As the power electronics and magnetics engineer, you will rely on your past experience to lead research and to optimize power electronics in the application maximize the magnetic and thermal performance. You will lead the development of power electronics building blocks and packages to bring them to market pairing them with Span’s Panel. Further, you will be tasked with guiding and mentoring team members to support the development of this exciting product.

In this role, you will:

• Design and analyze magnetic components such as high-frequency inductors and transformers and use your extensive knowledge of the materials and construction techniques and how they affect their characteristics.

• Define system architecture and create engineering requirements for components and systems.

• Conduct FEM and circuits simulation and use the results to optimize performance and guide design decisions.

• Collaborate with mechanical, electronics design, and firmware engineering teams to successfully to design, validate and manufacture power converters.

• Collaborate with internal and external teams.

• Build prototype components and assemblies, optimizing components to meet system requirements.

• Work with contract manufacturers to have parts made to specification, to improve quality, and to improve yield.

• Work with the mechanical team to design a thermal management strategy

About You

Required Qualifications

We are seeking a seasoned electrical engineer who has:

• MS in Electrical Engineering

• 5+ years experience.

• Solid understanding of the theory and application of magnetics (inductors, transformers) and capacitors (Electrolytic, film and Ceramic).

• Experience with FEM and circuit simulation tools to optimize magnetic and system designs (Matlab, Ansys Maxwell, Comsol, etc)

• Experience with high voltage power semiconductor selection (Si/SiC/GaN MOSFET’s, diodes), gate drive and protection circuit design.

• Hands-on approach whether it be building a prototype or performing testing.

• Experience in supervision of PCB layout for minimal stray inductance and capacitance, placement strategies for better manufacturability, power/signal plane definition and EMC optimization.

• Experience with embedded programming including working with / guiding firmware developers.

• Experience working closely with contract manufacturers and leading design for manufacturing.

Bonus Qualifications

We would love to hire someone who has:

• PhD in Electrical Engineering.

• Understanding of thermal management affect the overall performance of the system, appreciation for the trade-offs necessary to achieve designs that meet performance requirements and cost objective solutions.

• Experience in common mode chokes, current sensor design, planar PCB magnetics.

• Knowledge in environmental, reliability, and safety requirements for residential applications.

• Knowledge of basic control theory.

• Experience specifying embedded controllers for power electronics – i.e. choosing between FPGA, microcontroller, hardware accelerated gate drive, etc.

• Knowledge of national and international safety and EMC requirements relevant to the design of power converters such as UL, FCC, National Electric Code(NEC), IEC, and ISO.

• Experience transmission line theory and near/far field radiated emissions testing.

• Demonstrated success working in a cross disciplinary, multi-cultural environment.

• Experience developing of performance validation, environmental testing, and reliability testing.

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 team building 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 the next steps!