Power Electronics Engineer (Rock Hill)
About Powerus Powerus is building a next-generation American autonomous systems platform designed to move, protect, and sustain critical assets in high-consequence environments. The company combines advanced autonomy, manufacturing capability, operational expertise, and strategic acquisitions to support defense, national security, critical infrastructure, and commercial operations globally. Mission Our mission is to deliver resilient autonomous technologies that strengthen national security, improve operational safety, and expand the capabilities of organizations operating in complex environments. Why Join Powerus Endurance and payload capacity are argued at the system level and won at the switching node. A converter running two points below its target, a gate loop that rings, an inductor chosen for its footprint instead of its saturation curve - each of these costs watts and heat that the airframe then has to carry. As Powerus scales its platforms, the power circuitry has to be designed rather than assembled from modules. This role designs those circuits. You will work at the schematic and board level on the converters, motor drive electronics, and battery management circuitry that the vehicle's energy architecture depends on, and you will prove them on the bench with a scope and a thermal camera rather than in a datasheet. Position Overview Powerus is hiring a Power Electronics Engineer to design the circuit-level power hardware inside our unmanned platforms. This position requires U.S. Person status, as the work involves access to export-controlled technical data. Your scope is the board: DC-DC conversion, gate drive, motor drive and ESC electronics, battery management circuitry, magnetics, protection, and the layout and thermal choices that determine whether a design meets its efficiency target. You will take direction on system-level energy architecture, endurance, and pack strategy from the propulsion and power systems team, and you will be the person who turns those requirements into working, manufacturable power boards. Expect to be on-site in Charlotte with hardware on the bench. Key Responsibilities Design DC-DC converters and regulators - topology selection, control loop compensation, component stress analysis, and protection behavior across line, load, and temperature Design motor drive and ESC electronics, including power stage selection, gate drive, current sensing, and dead-time and switching behavior Design battery management circuitry at the board level: cell monitoring, balancing, protection, precharge, contactor or solid-state switching, and fault response Specify and select magnetics, capacitors, and semiconductors against ripple, saturation, ripple current, derating, and lifetime requirements Own the power-stage layout with the PCB design team - commutation loops, gate loops, current sense placement, plane and copper strategy, and creepage and clearance Analyze and manage thermal performance at the circuit level, from loss budgets and heatsinking to measured junction and case temperatures under real load profiles Bring up, characterize, and stress power boards on the bench: efficiency mapping, transient and step-load response, thermal imaging, fault injection, and margin testing Apply EMI-aware design practice - snubbers, filtering, spread spectrum, and layout discipline - and support EMC testing of the assemblies you design Document designs, derating and margin analysis, test results, and failure investigations, and support the transition of power boards into production Qualifications Must be located in the United States, within commuting distance of Rock Hill, SC, and able to work on-site Degree in electrical engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience Experience designing switching power circuits - converters, motor drives, or battery circuitry - at the schematic and component level Working understanding of switching topologies, magnetics behavior, control loop stability, and semiconductor selection and derating Hands-on bench skill measuring power circuits safely and accurately, including switching waveforms, efficiency, and thermal behavior Awareness of how layout and thermal decisions change a power design's real performance, not only its simulated performance U.S. Person status required (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)); this role involves access to ITAR- and EAR-controlled technical data Preferred Qualifications Power design for UAV, eVTOL, robotics, automotive, or other weight and thermally constrained platforms Experience with wide bandgap devices such as GaN or SiC, and the layout and gate drive practice they demand Motor control experience, including field-oriented control, sensorless commutation, or ESC firmware interaction Lithium battery system experience, including BMS integration, safety behavior, and abuse response Simulation experience with SPICE, PLECS, or comparable tools for converter and loss modeling Experience carrying a power board through environmental qualification or production ramp What We Look For We are looking for an engineer who respects power electronics as a discipline where the bench has the final word. This work suits people who probe carefully, know that a clean waveform on a badly placed ground clip is a lie, and design for the worst case rather than the nominal one. You should be comfortable owning a circuit from topology choice through thermal validation, working within an energy architecture someone else owns, and being precise about where your margin actually is when a program wants more current out of the same board. Equal Opportunity Statement Powerus is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and mission-driven workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
