Sr. Manager, Hardware and Firmware - BESS systems

Enphase Energy; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Enphase Energy in Austin, Texas seeks a senior leader to drive the combined embedded firmware and electrical hardware team within its Engineering R&D group. You will manage 4–6 engineers, balance hands‑on work with strategic leadership, and own the firmware/hardware scope from concept to production and field performance.

The role requires deep expertise in at least one domain (firmware or hardware) and credible knowledge of the other, with strong collaboration across power electronics, thermal,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science.
• Over 10 years of relevant embedded firmware and/or electrical hardware experience, with ≥2 years in people leadership.
• Deep expertise in embedded firmware or electrical hardware, with credible knowledge of the other.
• Experience taking products from concept through production at scale, with ownership of field issues.
• Familiarity with standards such as UL 1741, IEC 62109, UL 9540/UL 9540A.
• Experience with lifecycle tools: JAMA, Polarion/DOORS, Arena or Agile PLM; Confluence/JIRA and GitHub.
• Strong troubleshooting, lab equipment proficiency (oscilloscopes, power meters, grid simulators).

Responsibilities

• Lead the team of 4–6 embedded firmware and electrical hardware engineers, including hiring, performance management, and career development.
• Set technical direction, own architecture and design review quality, and enforce documentation and engineering rigor.
• Plan schedules, staffing, and deliverables across concurrent programs; communicate status and risk to leadership.
• Partner with power electronics, thermal, mechanical, systems, SDVT, compliance, manufacturing, and program management teams.
• Own the Austin site representation and build a strong local engineering culture as the team grows.
• Hands-on contributions on critical-path work: architecture, board/system bring-up, and debugging.
• Review firmware and hardware designs, make trade-off calls across domains.
• Drive root-cause analysis on production and field issues, feeding back into design.
• Ensure safety and compliance (UL/IEC) for BESS and grid-interactive products; manage BOM and DFM goals.

Skills

Embedded firmware

Electrical hardware

Leadership

Architecture

Design review

Root-cause analysis

Safety & compliance

BOM cost management

Troubleshooting

Lab equipment

Education

B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science

M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science

Tools

JAMA

Polarion/DOORS

Arena/Agile PLM for ECO/ECR and BOM

Confluence/JIRA

GitHub

Job description

Enphase Energy is a global energy technology company and a leading provider of solar, battery, and electric vehicle charging products. Founded in 2006, our innovative microinverter technology revolutionized solar power, making it a safer, more reliable, and scalable energy source. Today, the Enphase Energy System enables users to make, use, save, and sell their own power. Enphase is also one of the most successful and innovative clean energy companies in the world, with more than 80 million products shipped across 160 countries.

Join our dynamic teams designing and developing next-gen energy technologies and help drive a sustainable future!

About the role

This position leads the combined embedded firmware and electrical hardware team within our core Engineering R&D group in Austin, focused on Commercial and Industrial energy storage. Our scope spans IQ Vault-class C&I storage cabinets through to MW/MWh-scale inverter and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) serving data centers, across both outdoor cabinet and containerized platforms.

You will manage and grow a team of four to six embedded firmware and electrical hardware engineers while remaining hands‑on yourself - this is a player‑coach role. You are accountable for the firmware and hardware scope of our storage platforms from concept through production launch and field performance, and for the technical judgement that keeps those two disciplines moving as one team rather than two.

This is a rare combined‑scope role. We are looking for a leader with genuine depth in either embedded firmware or electrical hardware, and the credibility and curiosity to lead engineers in the other.

What you will do

Lead the team

• Manage, coach, and grow a team of 4-6 embedded firmware and electrical hardware engineers, owning hiring, performance management, and career development.
• Set technical direction across both disciplines, own architecture and design review quality, and hold the bar on documentation and engineering rigor.
• Plan and commit to schedules, staffing, and deliverables across concurrent programs, and communicate status and risk clearly to engineering and program leadership.
• Partner closely with power electronics, thermal, mechanical, systems, SDVT, compliance, manufacturing, and program management teams - locally and across our global R&D sites.
• Represent the Austin site in a distributed organization, and build the local engineering culture as the team scales.

Stay hands‑on

• Contribute directly on critical‑path work - architecture definition, board and system bring‑up, and escalation debug.
• Review firmware architecture and hardware schematics, and make the call on design trade‑offs spanning both domains.
• Drive root‑cause analysis on production and field escalations, and close the loop into design and process improvements.
• Own execution against safety and compliance requirements (UL and IEC) for BESS and grid‑interactive products.
• Drive BOM cost, design for manufacturability, reliability, and serviceability targets from concept through deployment.

Who you are and what you bring

• B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science.
• 10+ years of relevant industry experience in embedded firmware and/or electrical hardware development, including 2+ years leading engineers as a people manager or technical lead.
• Deep expertise in at least one of the two domains below, with credible working knowledge of the other:
• Embedded firmware - C for real‑time applications; bare metal and RTOS; ARM Cortex-M4/M7, STM32 or similar architectures; sensor drivers, closed‑loop control, and bootloader design; Python for test and workflow automation.
• Electrical hardware - Circuit schematics and multi‑layer PCB design; power supplies, mixed‑signal and sensor circuits; EMI mitigation; worst‑case and tolerance analysis, DPPM, DFMEA/AFMEA.
• Demonstrated track record taking products from concept through production launch at scale, including ownership of field and customer issues.
• Working knowledge of relevant standards - UL 1741, IEC 62109, and UL 9540 / UL 9540A for energy storage systems.
• Experience with requirements and lifecycle tooling: JAMA, Polarion or DOORS; Arena or Agile PLM for ECO/ECR and BOM management; Atlassian (Confluence, JIRA) and GitHub.
• Strong troubleshooting instinct across complex systems, and comfort with lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, power meters, and grid simulators.
• Clear written and verbal communication, and the judgement to know when to decide, when to elevate, and when to let an engineer run.

What will make you stand out

• Hands‑on depth in both firmware and hardware, rather than one plus exposure to the other.
• Experience with MW/MWh‑scale BESS or utility inverters, particularly for data center applications.
• Battery Management System (BMS) design or integration experience.
• Zephyr RTOS experience.
• Controls development for cooling systems - fans, pumps, chillers, liquid cooling and heat exchangers.
• Knowledge of worldwide advanced grid functions and fault conditions.
• Simulation experience with LTspice, MATLAB/Simulink, or PLECS.
• Field quality improvement and cost reduction through Value Analysis / Value Engineering (VAVE).
• Experience scaling and building an engineering team at a site.

Work location

This role requires being on‑site at our Austin, Texas office five days per week.