Staff Power Electronics Engineer

Our Mission  

At SPAN, we are building products to enable the rapid adoption of renewable energy. As more distributed energy resources like solar and storage come onto the grid, it’s increasingly important to be able to improve the technology that sits between the grid, the home, and those distributed energy resources.

SPAN's smart panel replaces the electrical panel to become the center for connected power in the home.  With Span, homeowners receive all the safety features of a standard panel with revolutionary insights and edge-of-grid controls through our mobile app.

The Role 

SPAN’s Power Electronics group is seeking an experienced and driven power electronics engineer to be instrumental in the development of market-leading converter hardware through all stages of the product’s lifecycle. In this role, candidates will drive efforts to optimize our partner’s power systems integrated with Span’s panel, grow Span’s IP, and collaborate with software, firmware, controls, and mechanical teams to implement technologies that electrify the home and delight our customers. Candidates should be comfortable and excited to grow a team of highly skilled embedded systems, power electronics, and magnetics-focused electrical engineers to advance Span’s product portfolio.

In this role, you will:

• Distill detailed analysis of power system components and behaviors to critical metrics of concern for company-wide discussion.
• Support executive staff with business analysis of research and development projects and manufacturing options e.g. outsource versus internal to Span and which components are ripe for vertical integration.
• Develop and validate accurate power electronics, solar, and battery models to better understand system use cases with Span’s panel, support modeling infrastructure, and maintain a database of relevant component models and product metrics.
• Build prototype components and assemblies and support buildout of electrical, reliability, safety, and environmental laboratories. Develop and perform tests related to compliance, safety, environmental, and reliability.
• Work with contract manufacturers throughout the full product lifecycle to have parts made to specification achieve our standards for product quality and yield.
• Work closely with the mechanical, software, and controls teams to optimize the overall product, including system thermals, compute requirements, functional safety behaviors, and design for compliance and manufacturability.
• Own full product lifecycle: specification, design, prototype, certification, reliability, validation, and manufacturing.
• Build and manage a resource plan and timeline for electronics development.

About You 

Required Qualifications

We are seeking a lead power electronics engineer who has:

• MS in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Power Electronics.
• 7+ years of experience developing power electronics technologies in the automotive, energy, or aerospace industries.
• Experience with power semiconductor selection (Si/SiC/GaN MOSFETs, diodes), gate drive, and protection circuit design.
• Hands-on leadership approach whether it be building a prototype or performing testing.
• Experience leading projects and architecture with a diverse team under tight timelines.
• Solid understanding of the theory and application of magnetics (inductors, transformers) and capacitors (Electrolytic, film, and Ceramic).
• Familiar with schematic capture and power converter circuit modeling/simulation tools.
• Experience in supervision of PCB layout for minimal stray inductance and capacitance, placement strategies for better manufacturability, power/signal plane definition, and EMC optimization.
• Knowledge of basic power electronics control theory.
• Experience with embedded programming including working with / guiding firmware developers.
• Experience working closely with contract manufacturers and leading design for manufacturing.
• Proficiency with basic EE tools (Oscilloscopes, Network Analyzers, Signal Generators, etc.).

Bonus Qualifications

We would love to hire someone who has:

• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Power Electronics.
• Knowledge in environmental, reliability, and safety requirements for residential and commercial power applications.
• 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.
• Demonstrated success working in a cross-disciplinary, multi-cultural environment.

Life at SPAN

Why SPAN?

SPAN offers a unique opportunity at a startup based in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco. We are a small, diverse team of creative thinkers. We value open communication, teamwork, and a make-it-happen attitude - no job is too big or too small. We strive to make a change by imagining what the future could be and building a product to complete that vision. We are looking to grow our team with talented people who are on the same mission to shape the future of energy.

Working at SPAN, you can expect:

• Competitive compensation and early equity at a well-funded, fast-growing, venture-backed company (read more on why Amazon and others invested in Span here and here)
• A sunny 20,000 sqft hardware lab + office space in SOMA, a stone’s throw from Caltrain and close to BART
• Flexible hours and vacation time - we simultaneously work hard and make space for the important stuff
• Additional Span holidays in celebration of causes we believe in (this year so far we provided days off in celebration of Black History in Feb, Women’s History in March, Earth Day in April, and Gay Pride & Juneteenth in June)
• Comprehensive benefits include a choice of medical plans; dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
• Diversity - we are serious about this. 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. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.