Founding Staff Firmware Engineer

Expand Power Technologies; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Dental & Vision Insurance

Job summary

Expand Power Technologies is building solid-state transformers and modular power electronics for a decentralized grid. This onsite Bay Area role leads firmware architecture for the proprietary power electronics module, from gate driver to grid interface, and drives the path to production and certification.

You will own the firmware development cycle, shape the roadmap, and mentor junior engineers while collaborating with hardware and systems teams to deliver safe, reliable, field-ready products.

Qualifications

• Experience taking firmware from board bring-up to production, certification, and field deployment.
• Hands-on digital control for power converters with motor and grid applications.
• Strong embedded fundamentals and long-term reliability mindset.
• Experience with power conversion platforms and relevant toolchains.
• Startup or fast-paced early-stage environment experience.

Responsibilities

• Architect and develop real-time embedded firmware for power converters from gate driver to grid interface.
• Own firmware development cycle: requirements, architecture, control, bring-up, testing, production release.
• Shape firmware roadmap, addressing functional safety, cybersecurity, and grid interconnection.
• Design startup/shutdown sequences, fault protection, and boot/firmware security features.

Skills

Firmware design

Embedded systems

Power electronics

Digital control

Debugging in lab

Education

Bachelor's degree in EE

Tools

TI C2000

STM32

Xilinx/AMD

Job description

Expand Power is building solid-state transformers and modular power electronics for a decentralized, 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 modernization of our grid.

This role is critical to Expand’s success– you will be working closely with the founders and first EE hires in the lab and in the field with real customers, reporting to the CEO. As our first FW hire, you will lead architecture and technical development of the firmware stack of our proprietary power electronics technology for immediate deployment. You will own the firmware development of Expand’s power electronics module– architecture, design, 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 renewable technology. The successful candidate can drive their own projects today and grow with the company into senior leadership roles.

Your Day to Day and Key Responsibilities

You will be leading the firmware design and development of Expand's power electronics products, from the gate driver up to the grid interface, and in doing so, defining how next-generation power conversion hardware is controlled, protected, and connected in the real world. You'll own the firmware development cycle, including requirements definition, architecture, control implementation, hardware bring-up, testing, and release for production. You'll shape the company's firmware roadmap while navigating functional safety, cybersecurity, and grid interconnection requirements.

You'll also use creativity and innovation to:

• Architect and develop real-time embedded firmware for medium-voltage power converters, from first principles to test and validation to field deployment
• Implement digital control loops, modulation schemes, and soft-switching strategies
• Own fault detection and protection firmware
• Design the coordination, synchronization, and balancing of modular systems
• Develop state machines for startup, pre-charge, grid synchronization, fault ride-through, and safe shutdown
• Build sensing and signal chains with power electronics engineers, including ADC timing, filtering, calibration, and isolated measurement
• Write drivers, bootloaders, and board support code for custom PCBAs, and lead board bring-up alongside hardware engineers
• Implement communication stacks and external interfaces, such as CAN, Modbus, Ethernet, and utility and DER protocols
• Build hardware-in-the-loop and automated test infrastructure to validate firmware against demanding performance, safety, and reliability targets
• Conduct lab testing, validation, and debugging of prototype hardware at power, using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and custom telemetry
• Design for secure boot, over-the-air updates, data logging, and remote diagnostics across a deployed fleet
• Establish firmware engineering practices, including coding standards, version control, code review, CI, and release management
• Navigate certification and compliance requirements, such as UL 1741, and functional safety standards
• Document technical specifications, architecture decisions, and validation reports
• Mentor and guide more junior engineers
• Collaborate on IP generation

What You've Done

Required Experience

You've done this before: you are a highly experienced firmware engineer, a master of your craft. Embedded systems for power electronics 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 taking firmware from first board bring-up through production, certification,and field deployment.

You also have experience in:

• Hands-on implementation of digital control for power converters (current and voltage loops, PWM and modulation schemes, PLLs, soft-switching), with a track record of working alongside power electronics engineers to navigate trade-offs and inform system architecture decisions
• Deep expertise in embedded fundamentals, designing for long-term reliability
• Developing on platform used in power conversion (TI C2000, STM32, Xilinx/AMD, or similar)
• Startups or fast-paced, early stage company environments
• Bringing a hardware product from concept to market through design, test, deployment, and manufacturing while navigating certification standards and regulations (UL, IEC, etc.)
• Fluency in typical firmware development tools and practices, such as Git, CI, code review, static analysis, and debuggers, and
• Extensive hands-on time in the lab: bringing up boards, debugging at power with oscilloscopes and logic analyzers, and iterating quickly on what the hardware tells you

Bonus Experience

• Firmware for medium-voltage or modular converters
• Control loop design and modeling, such as MATLAB/Simulink, PLECS, or similar
• FPGA development (VHDL/Verilog) for high-speed protection, modulation, or communication
• Isolated and fiber-optic communication across high-voltage barriers
• Experience with wide-bandgap (SiC/GaN) converters and their firmware constraints
• DER, inverter, EV charging, or utility equipment product development
• Knowledge of relevant industry standards (UL 1741, IEEE 1547, UL 1998, IEC 61508, IEC 62443, etc.)
• Grid and utility communication protocols, such as Modbus, DNP3, IEEE 2030.5, or IEC 61850
• Secure boot, over-the-air updates, and fleet telemetry for deployed equipment
• Building hardware-in-the-loop and automated test setups to validate firmware before it touches high-power hardware
• Supporting manufacturing with production test firmware, end-of-line calibration, and contract manufacturer bring-up
• Interacting and communicating with customers for development and deployment

• 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 $175,000 - $210,000 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