Senior Reliability Engineer - High-Power EV Charging Hardware

National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 93,000 - 168,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior Reliability Engineer to enhance the reliability of electric vehicle charging systems. This role involves designing innovative solutions that integrate power grids with transportation sectors, ensuring seamless EV charging experiences. You will work with cutting-edge technologies and collaborate with a diverse team to tackle critical challenges in the electrification of vehicles. If you are passionate about renewable energy and want to make a significant impact in the field of electric mobility, this opportunity is perfect for you. Join a supportive and inclusive work environment where your contributions will be valued and recognized.

Benefits

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Pension Benefits

Tuition Reimbursement

Paid Holidays

Personal Time Off

403(b) Employee Savings Plan

Qualifications

• PhD with 4+ years or Master's with 7+ years experience required.
• Experience in outdoor rated electronics design and deployment.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop solutions for reliable EV charging infrastructure.
• Collaborate with researchers to improve charging hardware reliability.

Skills

Reliability Engineering

Project Management

Communication Skills

Design and Development of Electronics

Education

PhD in relevant field

Master's Degree in relevant field

Bachelor's Degree in relevant field

Tools

Laboratory Equipment

Data Analysis Software

Job description

Senior Reliability Engineer - High-Power EV Charging Hardware

Pay $93,100.00 - $167,600.00 / year

Employment type: Full-Time

Job Description

• Req#: R10879

Posting Title

Senior Reliability Engineer - High-Power EV Charging Hardware

Location

CO - Golden

Position Type

Regular

Hours Per Week

40

Working at NREL

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado, is the nation's primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. From day one at NREL, you’ll connect with coworkers driven by the same mission to save the planet. By joining an organization that values a supportive, inclusive, and flexible work environment, you’ll have the opportunity to engage through our eight employee resource groups, numerous employee-driven clubs, and learning and professional development classes.

NREL supports inclusive, diverse, and unbiased hiring practices that promote creativity and innovation. By collaborating with organizations that focus on diverse talent pools, reaching out to underrepresented demographics, and providing an inclusive application and interview process, our Talent Acquisition team aims to hear all voices equally. We strive to attract a highly diverse workforce and create a culture where every employee feels welcomed and respected and they can be their authentic selves.

Job Description

Working within the Center for Integrated Mobility Sciences in the Advanced Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure Group, this position will help the Nation improve the reliability of electric vehicle charging. The group develops unique solutions that identify, evaluate, and resolve interoperability and reliability challenges of charging electric vehicles. The successful candidate will explore electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) and electric vehicle charging reliability at our unique Electric Vehicle Research Infrastructure (EVRI) laboratory in the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF). As we strive to make EV charging as seamless as conventional refueling, your efforts will create new opportunities and solve critical challenges for electrification of vehicles to move goods and people across the country.

The successful candidate will design and develop solutions that support a robust and resilient charging infrastructure that will integrate the power grid and transportation sectors. The solutions will be developed in broad collaboration with researchers at NREL and National Laboratory teams as part of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. This effort will require unique insights and experiences of the candidate to develop necessary data, knowledge, and approaches to demonstrate improvement in the reliability of charging hardware through laboratory and in-field evaluation. Today’s DC high-power charging infrastructure faces considerable growth with many distinct EVSE manufacturers, EV manufacturers, and charging network operators innovating to develop a broad electric vehicle charging ecosystem. The objective of this position is to identify best practices for the design, root-cause analysis, and maintenance of our Nation’s charging infrastructure.

Basic Qualifications

For Researcher IV Level: Relevant PhD and 4 or more years of experience, or relevant Master's Degree and 7 or more years of experience, or relevant Bachelor's Degree and 9 or more years of experience.

For Researcher III Level: Relevant PhD, or relevant Master's Degree and 3 or more years of experience, or relevant Bachelor's Degree and 5 or more years of experience.

* Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional Required Qualifications

• Experience with design, manufacturing, and/or deployment of outdoor rated electronics used in communications, control, and/or power conversion.
• Familiarity with AC.
• Excellence in the ability and interest to work in the laboratory and design experiments and evaluation platforms, but also to accomplish project management tasks and function successfully in a team environment through written and verbal communication.

Preferred Qualifications

Preferred candidates will have knowledge of and experience with electric vehicle technologies, such as high voltage batteries, inverters, and chargers; as well as knowledge of grid and EVSE and communication networks necessary for payment and integrated EV-Grid operation. Further, preferred candidates will have qualifications in any of the following categories:

• Demonstrate broad understanding and wide application of reliability engineering techniques to establish standard definitions, measurement methods, data collection, and analysis to understand failure modes and causes of charging system failures.
• Understanding of electric vehicle-related interface and communications standards including, CAN, SAE J1772, IEC 61851, DIN 70121, ISO 15118 (-2,-20), PLC, and CHAdeMO.
• Understanding of EVSE to site and back-end communications including, Open Charge Point Protocol (OCCP v1.6 and v.2.01), SEP2.0 (IEEE 2030), ModBus and Cloud services.
• Understanding of electrical and EVSE-related safety standards including, NFPA 70 (NEC), UL2202, UL 2594, and UL 2251.
• Demonstrated interaction with cross-disciplinary research team and external stakeholders.
• Research laboratory working knowledge and experience with vehicle testing. Experience with hardware testing and/or prototype system development skills, education, and/or experience.

Annual Salary Range (based on full-time 40 hours per week)

Job Profile: Researcher IV / Annual Salary Range: $93,100 - $167,600

Job Profile: Researcher III / Annual Salary Range: $77,600 - $139,700

NREL takes into consideration a candidate’s education, training, and experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value, including seniority and merit systems, and internal pay alignment when determining the salary level for potential new employees. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee’s salary history will not be used in compensation decisions.

Benefits Summary

Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; short- and long-term disability insurance; pension benefits; 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match; life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance; personal time off (PTO) and sick leave; paid holidays; and tuition reimbursement. NREL employees may be eligible for, but are not guaranteed, performance-, merit-, and achievement-based awards that include a monetary component. Some positions may be eligible for relocation expense reimbursement. Limited-term positions are not eligible for long-term disability or tuition reimbursement.

Drug Free Workplace

NREL is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace in accordance with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and complies with federal laws prohibiting the possession and use of illegal drugs. Under federal law, marijuana remains an illegal drug.

If you are offered employment at NREL, you must pass a drug test prior to commencing employment. Unless prohibited by state or local law, the drug test will include marijuana. If you test positive on the drug test, your offer of employment may be withdrawn.

Submission Guidelines

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at NREL you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

EEO Policy

NREL is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic partner status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

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About the company

155855 The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, located in Golden, Colorado, specializes in renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.