Founding Electrical Engineer

Expand Power; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Dental & Vision Insurance

Equity stake

Job summary

Expand Power seeks an experienced electrical engineer to lead the development of our DC-DC module and power electronics technology for a rapidly growing, mission-driven startup in the San Francisco Bay Area. You will own architecture, bring-up, testing, and customer pilots, shaping core technology and product direction.

The role offers ownership, hands-on work, and meaningful equity as the company scales. Relocation support is available for the right candidate, and we expect close collaboration

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing, simulating, and testing power converters.
• Experience with high-frequency, high-power converters and modular structures.
• Experience in startups or fast-paced early-stage environments.
• Proficiency with lab bring-up and high-voltage test setups.
• Comfort with design tools and regulatory considerations.

Responsibilities

• Lead hardware development of DC-DC module from concept to pilot.
• Define requirements, modeling, schematic capture, layout, prototyping.
• Drive the technical roadmap and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Mentor junior engineers and collaborate cross-functionally.
• Support firmware/control algorithms and EMI/thermal considerations.
• Document specs and validation reports; contribute to IP.

Skills

Power electronics design

High-frequency converters

Startup environment experience

Board bring-up & lab testing

Regulatory compliance awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

KiCad

ANSYS

SPICE

PLECS

MATLAB

Job description

Overview

Expand Power is a small but mighty team dedicated to building flexible, solid state transformers and modular power electronics for a distributed, decentralized grid with increased visibility, resiliency, reliability, and energy accessibility.

Expand Power is building solid-state transformers and modular power electronics for a decentralized, resilient grid. We’re a small team doing hard, meaningful engineering, and we’re just getting started.

We’re backed by several Department of Energy programs, Berkeley National Laboratory, the Activate Fellowship, and world-class pre-seed investors and VCs. Our advisory network includes prominent leaders in power electronics, high frequency magnetics, the electric utility industry, and deep tech commercialization.

Why This Role Exists

We’re at a critical inflection point in the grid, where we have new sources and loads at a capacity that we couldn’t have dreamed of. Traditional grid electronics, with their lack of control and DC based capabilities, just can’t keep up. With real customer demand, we’re closing the gap between the grid of today and the grid of the future by building innovative smart transformers and modular power electronics. We’re excited to commercialize and deploy our technology across multiple customers for real world impact. We are growing the team and are looking for passionate, dedicated, ambitious hires who are excited by ownership and the electrification of our grid.

This role is critical to Expand’s success—you will be working closely with the founders in the lab and in the field with real customers, reporting to the CEO. As our first full-time engineering hire, you will lead technical development of our proprietary power electronics technology for immediate deployment. You will own the development of Expand’s DC-DC module—architecture, design, bring-up, testing, and customer pilots. You will have a critical role in shaping the core technology, product direction, and culture of a cross-functional and rapidly growing early stage company. You’ll be one of the most valuable founding members of a company shaping the future of the electric grid. In doing so, you will push the limits of what’s achievable with high-frequency power electronics. The successful candidate can drive their own projects today and grow with the company into senior leadership roles, such as those at the VP and C-suite level.

Your Day to Day and Key Responsibilities

You will be leading the design and development of Expand’s DC-DC module and, in doing so, spearheading the advancement of next-generation power converter designs. You’ll own the hardware development cycle, including requirements definition, modeling, simulation, schematic capture, layout, prototyping, testing, and characterization. You’ll lead the company’s technical roadmap while navigating regulatory compliance.

You’ll also use creativity and innovation to:

• Design and develop power conversion systems (including AC-DCs, DC-ACs, and DC-DCs), from first principles to test and validation to deployment for manufacturability and flexibility, around novel magnetics
• Mentor and guide more junior engineers
• Simulate and model circuits and converters to maximize performance and reliability
• Conduct lab testing, validation, and debugging of prototype hardware
• Document technical specifications, architecture decisions, and validation reports
• Collaborate on IP generation
• Support thermal design, EMI/EMC compliance, and failure analysis
• Support firmware and control algorithm development for stable and high-performance operation

What You’ve Done

Required Experience

You’ve done this before: you are a highly experienced electrical engineer, a master of your craft. Simulating, designing, debugging, and characterizing power converters is your bread and butter, but it still gives you excitement and fulfillment, especially with a mission you care deeply about. You have a proven track record of driving and implementing innovation. This probably means you have at least eight years of experience.

You also have experience in

• High frequency and high power converters, such as modular multilevel converters, resonant converters, or MVDC distribution, and their associated advanced modulation techniques for loss minimization, including soft-switching schemes
• Startups or fast-paced, early stage company environments
• Medium voltage power electronics and operation
• Bringing a power electronics product from concept to market through design, test, deployment and manufacturing while meeting certification standards and regulations
• Fluency in typical electrical engineering design tools, such as Altium and/or KiCad, ANSYS, Spice, PLECS, PSIM, MATLAB
• Extensive hands-on time with lab equipment and with board bring-up, debugging, and lab validation, comfortable in the lab with oscilloscopes, probes, and high-voltage test setups

Bonus Experience

• Designing and optimizing feedback control loops for stability and performance.
• DERs and/or inverter product development
• Demonstrated success planning, running, and owning firmware verification across the full development cycle to confirm designs meet requirements
• Knowledge of relevant industry standards (UL 1741, etc)
• Interacting and communicating with customers for development and deployment

You’re described as a

• Fast moving, hands-on builder, taking responsibility for outcomes from design through deployment and hungry for ownership
• Independent, gritty problem solver, who thrives in uncertainty, loves a challenge, and responds to obstacles with the best of their abilities
• Strong and collaborative communicator, able to explain technical decisions to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders, and to share feedback openly and kindly
• Mission-driven, motivated by positive real-world impact and passionate about pushing the boundaries of power electronics and electrification
• Fearless and endlessly curious, energized by open questions and new possibilities, willing to bet on bold ideas and learn fast from what the hardware tells you, and taking intelligent risks with a sense of wonder and a drive to explore what\'s possible

Don’t meet every requirement? Apply anyway—we value diverse backgrounds and potential over perfect checklists. We’re more interested in what you can do than in every box being ticked.

How We Work & Compensation

Come work on breakthrough technology in a collaborative, mission-driven culture with direct influence over company trajectory and room to grow as the team scales. This is an onsite position based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Minimum travel will be expected. We are open to supporting relocation for the right candidate.

We want you to stay for a while– you will receive $150,000 - $250,000 base with meaningful early employee equity, based on level and experience, as well as benefits:

• Health Insurance: We offer 100% coverage of employee premiums
• Dental & Vision Insurance: We offer 100% coverage of employee premiums