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Salary: USD 175,000 - 200,000 / annual
Salient Motion is pioneering modular motion technologies for the industrial, aerospace, and defense sectors. The company is well-funded, revenue-generating, and recently relocated to a new large hangar facility in Hawthorne, CA.
As Senior Power Electronics Engineer, you will 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.
Key responsibilities include:
- 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 and design gate-drive, controller, feedback stability, magnetic components (power inductors and transformers), sensing, and protection systems (short-circuit, overcurrent, over/undervoltage, thermal, desaturation)
- Design topologies and power stage (DC bus, precharge/discharge, snubbers/clamps, current sensing, filtering) and define safe operating envelopes and derating for given environments
- Drive thermal design with mechanical engineering (heatsinks, cold plates, airflow/liquid cooling) and validate junction-to-ambient performance including loss breakdown and 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; produce clear, review-ready test reports and evidence packages; support supplier/parts selection and DFM/DFT as designs transition to manufacturing
The company is open to relocating candidates and offers relocation support.
**Requirements:**
- 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' requirements
- Must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card holder) to meet customer and regulatory requirements
- Must be able to comply with applicable export control laws and access requirements
**Nice to haves:**
- Demonstrated work on high-power systems (>10 kW)
- Aerospace experience: qualification mindset, configuration control, and familiarity with relevant test practices and EMI/EMC test workflows
- Motor drive experience: three-phase inverters for BLDC/PMSM, sensing, DC bus design, regen handling, and protection timing considerations
- High-voltage design experience (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
