Control Systems Engineer

American Terawatt; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Gym/Wellness reimbursement

Lunch provided

Unlimited PTO

Apple laptop

Job summary

American Terawatt is building a new industrial electric grid for the United States. The control systems software engineer will own the development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of control systems software deployed to company hardware.

You will work with the power systems engineering team to co-design transmission systems for Macrogrids and HVDC networks, and develop simulation and testing platforms to verify performance before field deployment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 3+ years of commercial engineering experience in control systems within aerospace, robotics, EV, power systems, or other safety-critical domains.
• Proficiency in control theory fundamentals: feedback/feedforward control, state estimation, PID tuning, and stability analysis.
• Hands-on experience with real-time embedded control systems development (e.g., C/C++ on RTOS or bare-metal platforms).
• Experience developing and validating controls using simulation tools such as MATLAB/Simulink, PLECS, or PSCAD.
• Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing methodologies.
• Experience with version control, CI/CD pipelines, and software development best practices in an embedded or controls context.
• Strong debugging and root-cause analysis skills across software, firmware, and hardware boundaries.

Responsibilities

• Own the development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of control systems software deployed to hardware.
• Collaborate with power systems engineering to co-design transmission systems and components.
• Develop simulation and physical testing platforms to verify performance and robustness.
• Participate in commissioning of controls software in-situ in real deployments.
• Develop and maintain control systems software development pipelines including CI/CD, issue tracking, etc.

Skills

Real-time embedded

C/C++

RTOS

PID tuning

State estimation

CI/CD

Debugging

MATLAB/Simulink

HIL/SIL testing

Power systems

Control theory

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Master’s or PhD preferred

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

PLECS

PSCAD

CAN

Modbus

DNP3

IEC 61850

Job description

American Terawatt is building a new industrial electric grid for the United States. Our systems stay safe and stable because they run on distributed, fault-tolerant control loops.

We design and deploy advanced power transmission systems, serving large industrial loads, hundreds of megawatts at a time. Our systems deliver electric power to everything from frontier AI datacenters to highly automated manufacturing, refineries, mines, and more.

The backbone of American Terawatt’s network is based on long-distance HVDC transmission, anchored by software-defined ‘Macrogrids’ which actively manage local transmission between generation, storage, and loads.

The Role

As a control systems software engineer at American Terawatt, you will:

• Own the development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of control systems software deployed to American Terawatt’s hardware.

• Work closely with the power systems engineering team to co-design transmission systems and components to serve both local Macrogrids and the larger HVDC transmission network.

• Develop simulation and physical testing platforms, to verify performance and robustness of control systems before deployment at scale.

• Participate in the commissioning of controls software in-situ in real deployments.

• Develop and maintaining control systems software development pipelines including CI / CD, issue tracking, etc.

Experience

We are hiring across a variety of experience levels for this role. At least 3+ years of commercial engineering experience is required.

Required Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field; advanced degree preferred

• 3+ years of commercial engineering experience in control systems within aerospace, robotics, EV, power systems, or other safety-critical domains

• Proficiency in control theory fundamentals: feedback/feedforward control, state estimation, PID tuning, and stability analysis

• Hands-on experience with real-time embedded control systems development (e.g., C/C++ on RTOS or bare-metal platforms)

• Experience developing and validating controls using simulation tools such as MATLAB/Simulink, PLECS, or PSCAD

• Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing methodologies

• Experience with version control, CI/CD pipelines, and software development best practices in an embedded or controls context

• Strong debugging and root-cause analysis skills across software, firmware, and hardware boundaries

Preferred Experience

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Controls, or Power Systems

• Direct experience with power electronics control (inverters, converters, rectifiers) or HVDC systems

• Familiarity with grid-forming and grid-following inverter control strategies

• Experience with communication protocols common in power and industrial systems (Modbus, DNP3, IEC 61850, CAN)

• Background in fault detection, protection coordination, or fault-tolerant control architectures

• Experience deploying control systems to field hardware and participating in system commissioning

• Exposure to power systems modeling, load flow analysis, or transient stability studies

• Experience with distributed or networked control systems where multiple controllers coordinate autonomously

• Familiarity with functional safety standards (IEC 61508, IEC 62443, or similar)

Position Details

These roles report directly to the CTO. Senior hires will be responsible for planning and executing engineering programs in their specific areas of responsibility.

Compensation & Benefits

Competitive compensation package commensurate with experience, including salary and equity participation.

Medical, dental, and vision coverage, including 75% coverage for dependents and spouses.

Up to $300/month reimbursement for gym and wellness expenses, or Bay Club membership for SF-based employees.

Lunch provided daily when working from the office.

Unlimited PTO with manager approval, plus company-wide office closures for one week in June and one week in December.

Apple laptop provided, convenient SF office near the Embarcadero and public transit, and employee contribution 401(k) program.