Senior Power Electronics Engineer
- Location
- Hawthorne, CA
- Work mode
- On-site
- Employment type
- Full-time
About the job
**Applicants must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) to meet customer and regulatory requirements**
Who We Are
We are pioneering modular motion technologies to power the next generation of innovation for Industrial, Aerospace and Defense. If you're excited about disrupting legacy industries, and passionate about building next generation technology, let's chat!
We are at the forefront of innovation, crafting exclusive motion control components that propel the industrial, aerospace, and defense sectors into the future.
A couple other things:
- We are open to relocating you
- We have great benefits
- We are well funded, and generating revenue
- We are located in beautiful Hawthorne, CA and just moved into a new large hangar facility
Role Summary
We are hiring a Senior Power Electronics Engineer to lead the design and integration of high-power (>10 kW) power conversion hardware for aerospace motion and electrical systems. You will own key power-stage architecture decisions, drive prototype bring-up and verification, and partner with controls, firmware, mechanical, and manufacturing teams to deliver flight- and mission-ready hardware.
What you'll do:
- Architect and design high-power converters/inverters (>10 kW) for aerospace electrical and motion control products, balancing efficiency, power density, and reliability
- Select and apply Si, SiC, and/or GaN power devices (as appropriate) and design gate-drive, controller, feedback stability, magnetic components including power inductors and transformers, sensing, and protection (short-circuit, overcurrent, over/undervoltage, thermal, desaturation)
- Design topologies and the power stage (DC bus, precharge/discharge, snubbers/clamps, current sensing, filtering) and define safe operating envelopes and derating at given environments
- Drive thermal design with mechanical engineering (heatsinks, cold plates, airflow/liquid cooling) and validate junction-to-ambient performance including loss breakdown, thermal analysis
- Own EMI/EMC strategy for aerospace environments: grounding, shielding, layout constraints, conducted/radiated mitigation, filter design, and test readiness
- Lead schematic capture and review PCB layout for low-inductance, high-current/high-voltage design; ensure creepage/clearance, isolation, and safety best practices
- Plan and execute prototype bring-up and high-power lab testing with safe procedures; debug failures and perform root-cause analysis
- Define verification plans and acceptance criteria and produce clear, review-ready test reports and evidence packages; support supplier/parts selection and DFM/DFT as designs transition to manufacturing
What you need:
- 7+ years (or equivalent depth) in power electronics design and product development
- Strong experience with power converter/inverter topologies, architecture, device selection, gate-drive design, controller selection, feedback gain, stability margin, protection, and high-voltage, high-current PCB/layout practices
- Hands-on bring-up and debug experience with high-power hardware (safe lab practices, oscilloscopes, HV differential probes, current probes, power analyzers, network/stability analyzers)
- Ability to take designs from concept through prototype, verification, and production readiness with clear documentation to meet special and mission-oriented applications’ requirement
Nice to haves:
• Demonstrated work on high-power systems (>10 kW)
- Demonstrated work on high-power systems (>10 kW)
- Motor drive experience: three-phase inverters for BLDC/PMSM, sensing, DC bus design, regen handling, and protection timing considerations
- High-voltage design experience (e.g., 200-800 VDC class) including isolation strategy and creepage/clearance design
- Power factor, total harmonic current distortion and EMI/EMC success in shipped products (e.g., MIL-STD-461/DO-160 standard specs) and ability to design for compliance early
- Safety qualification experience such as leakage current, ESD, lightning and surge test
- Circuit Simulation familiarity (LTspice/PLECS/Simetrix/Simplis/Simulink or similar) for validation and trade-off
- PCB CAD and layout tool experience and familiarity
Export Control This role supports aerospace programs and may involve export-controlled information or hardware. Candidates must be able to comply with applicable export control laws and access requirements.
What we have to offer:
We are not just building components. We are reshaping the future of the Aerospace and Defense component industry, which is a $300B+ market! Come join us and help build next generation systems that will make a massive impact at global scale.
- We offer competitive compensation: $175,000 to $200,000 base salary + equity
- Exceptional healthcare benefits, Medical is 100% covered by the company
- Flexible PTO
- 401K
- More to come!
From Salient Motion's careers page (Greenhouse), checked 29 Oct 2026.
How to apply
- Select Apply on job-boards.greenhouse.io. It opens Salient Motion's own application form in a new tab, run on Greenhouse.
- Fill in the form and upload your résumé there. Jobiwork never sees your application.
- Salient Motion will reply to you directly. No real employer asks you for money to apply.
Posted 12 Oct 2026 · checked 29 Oct 2026 · Report this job