Lead Power Electronics Engineer – High-Power Inverter Systems

Sapphire Technologies group; Cypress (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health benefits

401(k) retirement plan with company match

Paid vacation and sick time

Job summary

Sapphire Technologies group is looking for a Lead Power Electronics Engineer to oversee the architecture and production launch of advanced inverter systems for high-speed machinery. This role involves leading cross-functional teams on design and validation efforts, ensuring compliance, and addressing technical challenges to deliver high-quality products.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience in power electronics and a solid grasp of inverter system architecture, with the ability to lead projects from concept to production in a manufacturing environment.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in developing medium- or high-power inverters.
• Strong understanding of three-phase inverter systems and modulation methods.
• Hands-on experience with electrical testing equipment.

Responsibilities

• Lead inverter system architecture and ensure design readiness.
• Manage thermal integration and certification processes.
• Ensure compliance with EMC and safety standards.

Skills

Power electronics architecture

Design validation

High-speed motor drives

Thermal integration

Hands-on technical leadership

Education

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

LTspice

Job description

Position Summary

Sapphire Technologies is seeking a Lead Power Electronics Engineer to lead the architecture, development, validation, and production launch of advanced inverter systems for high-speed rotating machinery. The role will support a major new product platform serving rapidly growing data-center infrastructure applications. The system integrates high-power electronics, high-speed electric machines, active magnetic bearings, liquid cooling, controls, and precision electromechanical hardware and is expected to undergo a significant production scale-up. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role with primary responsibility for inverter system architecture, power‑stage design, cost reduction, design for manufacturing, thermal integration, validation, and certification readiness. The successful candidate will work closely with mechanical, controls, manufacturing, supply chain, certification, and Calnetix engineering teams.

Why Join Sapphire

Learning

Work at the intersection of high-power inverter design, high-speed motor drives, wide-bandgap semiconductors, filtering, liquid cooling, EMC, certification, and high-volume manufacturing.

Impact

Own the technical and commercial tradeoffs that determine inverter efficiency, cost, reliability, manufacturability, thermal performance, and certification readiness for a major data‑center-related product platform.

Becoming

Grow into Sapphire’s technical authority for high-power inverter systems, with opportunities to lead platform architecture, power electronics strategy, supplier development, certification, and future product programs.

Requirements

What Success Looks Like

First 90 Days

• Assume ownership of the inverter system architecture, requirements, and major interfaces.
• Review the existing power stage, control‑board interface, filtering, thermal design, protection strategy, cost structure, and certification requirements.
• Define the primary architecture and trade studies, including switching frequency, semiconductor losses, filter size and losses, cooling requirements, packaging, cost, and manufacturability.
• Establish a development, validation, and certification plan with internal teams and the certifying body.

First 180 Days

• Lead the detailed design, build, integration, and debugging of production‑intent inverter hardware.
• Validate the power stage, gate drives, sensing, protection, filters, control‑board interfaces, and water‑cooled thermal system.
• Use electrical, thermal, and system-test data to resolve design issues and improve efficiency, reliability, cost, and manufacturability.
• Prepare hardware and technical documentation for EMC, electrical safety, and certification testing.

First Year

• Deliver a mature, cost-effective inverter system ready for product launch and production scale-up.
• Close or formally control major electrical, thermal, EMC, reliability, certification, and manufacturing risks.
• Establish critical-to-quality requirements, production-test methods, supplier acceptance criteria, and design-change controls.
• Support certification completion and production-line readiness.
• Create a cost-reduction and platform-improvement roadmap for future production volumes and product variants.

Core Responsibilities

• Serve as Sapphire’s primary technical authority for the inverter system.
• Translate system and customer requirements into inverter architecture, technical specifications, and interface requirements.
• Lead topology selection and trade studies involving semiconductor technology, switching frequency, switching and conduction losses, harmonic performance and filter losses, efficiency, power density, thermal margin, cost, and manufacturability.
• Lead design and validation of power stages, gate drives, DC‑link systems, filters, sensing, protection circuits, bus structures, and high‑power interconnections.
• Define and manage electrical, mechanical, and thermal interfaces, including water‑cooled cold plates, coolant requirements, pressure‑drop constraints, and component junction-temperature limits.
• Develop electrical and thermal models to guide architecture decisions and verify design margin.
• Lead schematic development, component selection, layout review, prototype build, laboratory testing, and design verification.
• Drive cost reduction through architecture optimization, component standardization, supplier engagement, value engineering, and design for manufacturing and assembly.
• Coordinate with Sapphire’s certification engineer and external certifying bodies to ensure compliance requirements are incorporated into the design early.
• Support EMC/EMI, electrical safety, environmental, and applicable UL and IEC certification testing.
• Define production-test requirements and support new-product introduction, supplier qualification, and manufacturing scale‑up.
• Support root‑cause investigations for production and field issues.
• Mentor engineers and manage technical work performed by contractors and external development partners.
• Direct firmware development is not a primary responsibility of this position.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Electrical Engineering with emphasis in power electronics; doctorate is a plus.
• Eight or more years of industry experience developing medium- or high-power inverters, motor drives, converters, or related industrial electronics.
• Demonstrated experience defining power electronics architecture and leading products through design, validation, certification, and production.
• Strong understanding of three-phase inverter systems, modulation methods, semiconductor switching behavior, protection, and power quality.
• Experience evaluating tradeoffs among switching frequency, semiconductor losses, passive-component size, filter losses, thermal performance, and cost.
• Strong circuit‑design and debugging skills across power stages, gate drives, sensing, protection, and high‑voltage interfaces.
• Experience with SiC-based inverter systems; GaN experience is beneficial.
• Experience with liquid‑cooled power electronics and thermal-interface design.
• Proficiency with MATLAB/Simulink, PLECS, LTspice, or comparable simulation tools.
• Hands‑on experience with oscilloscopes, power analyzers, AC/DC sources and loads, and high-voltage current and voltage probes.
• Ability to develop test plans, analyze results, document conclusions, and communicate recommendations to technical and management teams.
• Strong technical leadership and cross‑functional communication skills.

Preferred Experience

• Active-front-end or grid-connected converter systems
• Output, input, and common‑mode filter design
• High-frequency magnetics design and optimization
• Altium schematic capture and PCB-layout review
• High-density packaging and low‑inductance busbar design
• Water‑cooled cold plates and thermal-system integration
• EMC/EMI testing and design for compliance
• UL, IEC, CE, or related industrial product certification
• Functional-safety and SIL-related product development
• Production cost reduction, supplier development, and high-volume manufacturing

Leadership Attributes

• Strong ownership and accountability
• Systems‑level technical judgment
• Hands‑on and methodical problem‑solving
• Ability to balance performance, cost, schedule, certification, and manufacturing needs
• Effective leadership of internal teams, suppliers, and contractors
• Commitment to delivering reliable, production-quality products
• Hands‑on laboratory and prototype‑development work is required
• Approximately 10% travel may be required for suppliers, certification testing, customers, commissioning, or field support

Benefits

We offer a competitive benefits package designed to support the health, well-being, and financial security of our employees. Eligible team members receive paid vacation, paid sick time, comprehensive health benefits, and participation in a 401(k) retirement plan with company match. This role is based in a fast-paced manufacturing environment where teamwork, reliability, safety, and attention to detail are essential to success.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned, by their supervisor. Management reserves the right to change, rescind, add or delete the duties and responsibilities of positions within this job classification at any time.

Sapphire Technologies is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, or veteran status. This policy applies to recruiting, hiring, transfers, promotions, terminations, compensation and benefits and also states that retaliation against any employee who files a complaint regarding possible violations of this policy will not be tolerated.