Power Electronics Engineer

About the Role

We are hiring an early-career electrical engineer to support the design, build, bring-up, characterization, and maturation of flight power electronics. Bench work is how the engineer will learn our products, contribute immediately, and develop toward design ownership. The role is intended for a recent graduate or an engineer with up to approximately three years of experience who has strong hands-on evidence from internships, research, student teams, personal projects, or prior employment. Previous space experience is welcome but not required. You will work closely with senior power electronics engineers on real hardware. Early assignments will emphasize prototype integration, electrical and test harnessing, board bring-up, representative loads and simulators, troubleshooting, and disciplined test execution. As your judgment and technical depth grow, the role can expand into circuit analysis, converter design, magnetics, controls, and ownership of boards or subsystems. The strongest candidate is someone who genuinely enjoys building and debugging hardware. We value curiosity, careful bench work, persistence, and the ability to learn from experienced engineers more than a long list of aerospace credentials. You should be comfortable asking questions, taking ownership of a defined task, documenting what you learn, and adapting as prototypes and priorities change.

Key Responsibilities

• Support prototype PCBA inspection, controlled first power-up, functional checkout, characterization, and troubleshooting under senior engineering guidance.
• Design, document, build, inspect, and test electrical interconnects and harnesses for internal, external, and test use, including connector selection, pin assignments, wire and protection choices, routing constraints, continuity checks, and as-built records.
• Contribute to representative and dynamic electrical loads, interface simulators, fixtures, and bench setups used to develop and verify power-processing hardware.
• Use oscilloscopes, differential and current probes, DMMs, programmable power supplies, electronic loads, DAQ equipment, and other laboratory instruments safely and effectively.
• Assist with board rework, component changes, fault isolation, and collection of clear evidence for senior engineers and design reviews.
• Support integration of modular PCBAs into chassis and flight-like assemblies, including electrical interfaces, grounding, thermal considerations, firmware interaction, and checkout sequencing.
• Create and maintain practical engineering documentation such as schematics, wiring diagrams, test notes, procedures, redlines, bills of material, characterization results, and configuration records.
• Use circuit simulation and analysis tools such as LTspice or equivalent to support design decisions, troubleshoot hardware behavior, and compare predicted and measured results.
• Participate in design reviews and work with power electronics, firmware, mechanical, systems, manufacturing, quality, and test engineers to resolve hardware issues.
• Follow high-voltage, stored-energy, ESD, laboratory, configuration-control, and flight-hardware handling practices appropriate to the work.
• Take on increasing design responsibility as skills develop, potentially including circuit analysis, simulation, schematic updates, component selection, magnetics, control loops, and ownership of defined board functions.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• B.S. in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a closely related discipline completed by the employment start date.
• Hands-on experience building, testing, modifying, or debugging electrical hardware. Relevant evidence may come from internships, laboratories, research, student engineering teams, personal projects, or professional work.
• Working knowledge of circuit fundamentals and the ability to read schematics, data sheets, pinouts, and basic technical drawings.
• Experience using common bench instruments such as an oscilloscope, DMM, power supply, electronic load, logic analyzer, or DAQ system.
• Interest in power electronics and a willingness to learn high-frequency switching, magnetics, controls, EMI/EMC, thermal behavior, and high-reliability hardware design.
• Ability to communicate observations clearly, keep useful engineering records, and distinguish measured evidence from assumptions.
• Ability to work substantially onsite in Loveland, Colorado.
• U.S. Person status as defined by U.S. export-control regulations.

Qualifications (Strongly Preferred)

• M.S. in electrical engineering, power electronics, or a closely related discipline.
• Coursework or projects involving DC/DC converters, switching power supplies, motor drives, batteries, analog electronics, controls, or embedded systems.
• Soldering, rework, cable or harness fabrication, prototype assembly, and PCB bring-up.
• Circuit simulation or analysis using LTspice, PLECS, PSIM, MATLAB, Python, or similar tools.
• Schematic capture or PCB-design experience in KiCad, Altium, Cadence, or a comparable ECAD tool.
• Test automation, instrument communication, embedded firmware, CAN, RS-422/485, serial interfaces, or Ethernet.
• Formula SAE, CubeSat, rocketry, robotics, solar car, laboratory research, maker projects, or other evidence of sustained hands-on engineering interest.
• Exposure to aerospace, defense, automotive, industrial, medical, or other high-reliability hardware environments.

Location

Loveland, Colorado

Compensation and Benefits

• Base salary range: $80,000 – $108,000 per year, depending on experience.
• Eligible for equity.
• QSEHRA healthcare reimbursement program through PeopleKeep.
• Additional Healthcare Stipend: Annual $6,000 stipend.
• Onsite gym, showers, green space, restaurant/brewery, coffee shop (employee discounts available).
• Colorado Secure Savings program through Vestwell (Roth IRA).
• Unlimited PTO and recognized Holidays - includes parental leave.
• Equity Grant Program.

Export Control and Background Check

• This position requires eligibility to access equipment and technical data regulated by United States export-control requirements, including ITAR-controlled work.
• A background check is required prior to any offer of employment.