R&D Electrical Hardware Engineer

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 a staff power electronics engineer to lead the development of new technologies for home electrification. As the Staff 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:

• Drive SPAN’s project portfolio through developing technologies that enable home electrification

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

• 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:

• 10+ years experience.

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

• Familiarity with power electronics. 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.

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering

Bonus Qualifications

We would love to hire someone who has:

• 5 years experience developing products from initial concepts to mass production.

• PHD in Electrical Engineering or Power Electronics

• Familiarity with high voltage design (which in our context means up to 600V)

• 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.

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

• Experience on power systems and microgrid system

• 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.

• Designed switch mode power supplies involving high (>60V) voltage, high current, high power, or high efficiency

• Design experience with products that connect to the electrical grid.

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

The U.S. base salary range for this position is $145,000 - $198,500 plus benefits, equity and variable compensation for Sales-related roles. This range represents SPAN’s good faith estimate of competitively-priced salary for the role based on national, real-time industry data from companies of a similar growth stage. This range reflects minimum and maximum new hire salaries for the role across US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by location and individual factors including relevant skills, experience and education or training. This range correlates to the relative level of the candidate we believe we need for the role and may require an adjustment for candidates of a different level. 

Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the location this role is based during the hiring process. 

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. 

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 teambuilding and company culture (events, meet-ups, clubs)

⚡ Flexible hours and unlimited PTO

Interested in joining our team? Submit an application today and we’ll be in touch with next steps!