Senior Power Electronics Engineer — Spacecraft Power Units

Socket.dev; Oregon; On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

AscendArc is seeking an experienced Electrical Engineer to own power units for a satellite communications system. You will lead end‑to‑end development, from requirements through verification, including both on‑board design and supplier engagement.

You’ll ensure interfaces align with the broader power chain and spacecraft requirements. You will specialize in high‑reliability space hardware, addressing radiation‑hardened parts, thermal/voltage margins, and robust testing.

Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering; 5+ years designing power electronics or analog and mixed‑signal hardware.
• Hands‑on board design — circuits taken from requirements through schematic, analysis, bring‑up and test, and you can show what you designed.
• Unit‑level ownership — accountable for a piece of hardware from requirements through acceptance, not a contributor to someone else’s box.
• Power electronics depth: switching and linear conversion, protection and current limiting, inrush, fault isolation, and the failure modes that drive them.
• Worst‑case, derating and part stress analysis, and the ability to defend results at review.
• EEE parts selection for space or another high‑reliability domain
• Experience specifying and technically managing a procured hardware unit, including supplier design reviews and acceptance
• Comfortable at the bench — instrumentation, measurement and debug are part of the job, not somebody else’s
• Strong plus: spacecraft power units (batteries and cell management, solar array wings, PCU/PPU, PDU); EMI/EMC and grounding; magnetics design; firmware or FPGA familiarity; ECSS or equivalent space standards

Responsibilities

• Own assigned power units end to end — battery, solar array wing, PCU/PPU, PDU — from requirements through design or supplier specification to verification and acceptance
• For units we build, design the electronics: distribution and switching, protection and current limiting, inrush and fault handling, DC/DC conversion, heater and thermistor acquisition, and the analog and digital interfaces around them
• Take those designs through topology and part selection, schematic capture, worst‑case, derating and part‑stress analysis, and support layout, fabrication, bring‑up, debug and board test
• For units we buy, own the technical content: unit specifications and SOWs, technical evaluation of proposals, supplier design reviews, resolution of interface and requirement issues through the build, and acceptance data package review
• Own unit‑level requirements and interfaces to the rest of the power chain and to the spacecraft, and keep them consistent with the subsystem architecture
• Select and defend EEE parts against radiation, quality and lifetime requirements for a 15‑year GEO mission
• Own unit verification: test objectives, procedures and setups, data reduction, and anomaly investigation when hardware does not behave as designed
• Support spacecraft‑level electrical integration, including grounding and bonding, power quality, harness and EMI/EMC, through to launch
• Provide unit‑level inputs to the power budget and energy balance, and support architecture trades with analysis and data
• Work within the Systems Engineering baseline for requirements, interfaces and technical budgets

Skills

Power electronics

Board design

Schematic capture

Hardware validation

Space-grade components

FPGA/firmware familiarity

Education

B.S./M.S. in Electrical Engineering

Tools

ECSS standards

Job description

AscendArc is seeking an experienced Electrical Engineer to own power units for a satellite communications system. You will lead end‑to‑end development, from requirements through verification, including both on‑board design and supplier engagement.

You’ll ensure interfaces align with the broader power chain and spacecraft requirements. You will specialize in high‑reliability space hardware, addressing radiation‑hardened parts, thermal/voltage margins, and robust testing.