VP / Director of Engineering

Expand Power Technologies; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Dental & Vision Insurance

Job summary

Expand Power Technologies is seeking a VP of Engineering to lead the technical strategy from concept to deployment. You will guide the architecture of a cutting-edge power electronics stack, work closely with the CEO, and shape the core technology while interfacing with customers in the field.

You’ll be hands-on yet able to drive a multi-year roadmap in a fast-growing startup, owning hardware development, safety standards, and partnerships that accelerate grid modernization and electrification.

Qualifications

• Deep power electronics expertise with a track record of scaling hardware from inception to manufacturing.
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams and roadmapping in a founding-stage company.
• Ability to translate customer needs into engineering plans and product requirements.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead Expand’s technical roadmap from pilots to deployment.
• Architect the technical stack and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Lead and scale the engineering team and interface with customers and CEO.

Skills

Leadership

Power electronics

Roadmapping

Customer interaction

Team building

Tools

Altium

KiCad

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 electrification of our grid.

The Vice President / Director of Engineering will serve as a founding team member and strategic partner to the CEO, leading the architecture of Expand’s technical stack and defining the next generation of power electronics for the grid. As a core member of the founding leadership team, the VP will shape Expand’s technical priorities through immediate pilots and deployment, ensuring customers receive a high performance, reliable, product.

This role is critical to Expand’s success– you will be working closely with the founding team and in the field with real customers, reporting to the CEO. In this role, you’ll set technical requirements and ensure customer functionality is translated into complex technical goals. You’ll be deeply hands‑on and in the weeds while also leading the technology roadmap and progress. You will guide technical development of our proprietary power electronics technology for immediate deployment while interfacing with customers. 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 high‑frequency power electronics and grid modernization

Your Day to Day and Key Responsibilities

You will be leading Expand’s technical strategy from customer discussions to prototype to certifications to manufacturing while guiding the engineering team and contributing to technical designs. You’ll use creativity and innovation to:

Leadership

• Leverage deep expertise in power electronics to understand complex customer needs, set and lead the technical roadmap, and execute while adhering to regulatory requirements
• Lead the development and evolution of Expand’s technical stack, aligning customer demand, industry trends, and operational capabilities in direct partnership with the CEO
• Act as the technical point of contact for customers, translating requirements into engineering tasks
• Define and oversee operational excellence for Expand’s technical spaces, ensuring a safe, high‑quality, and consistent user experience
• Lead and scale the technical team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Support business development efforts to bring new customers
• Provide strategic technical insight to inform Expand’s broader growth, partnership, and capital planning decisions
• Architect the technical narratives for capital formation efforts alongside the CEO, including input for grants, funding, and early commercial partnerships
• Contribute as a core member of the founding team to define and institutionalize Expand’s mission, values, safety standards, and internal operating systems
• Represent Expand in select industry, government, and customer‑facing forums
• Maintain alignment of technical standards and customer experience
• Partner with the CEO to forecast hiring needs aligned with customer demand and program growth

Hands on Engineering

• Lead the development of power conversion systems from first principles to deployment for manufacturability and flexibility
• Document technical specifications, architecture decisions, and validation reports
• Simulate, model, and design circuits and converters to maximize performance and reliability, as needed

What You’ve Done

Required Experience

You have deep power electronics expertise, with a proven ability to scale a product from inception to manufacturing while building a powerful team. You’ve done this before: you are a highly experienced electrical engineering leader, a master of your craft. Guiding hardware development 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 driving and implementing innovation and R&D for commercialization.

You also have experience in

• Leadership in power electronics and hardware design with demonstrated experience advancing new technologies and products toward manufacturing
• Building multi‑disciplinary power electronics teams
• Architecting multi‑year technical roadmaps aligned with commercialization timelines, customer demand, and operational capabilities in a founding‑stage, high‑growth, or innovation‑driven organization
• Bringing a product to market while meeting certification standards and regulations
• Technical consulting or customer‑facing roles, with the ability to translate ambiguous research goals into precise commercialization steps
• Strong relationship building and communication skills, with the ability to build trust across technical teams, customers, and senior stakeholders ranging from academic researchers to industry experts
• Startups or fast‑paced, early stage company environments
• High frequency and high power converters, including modular multilevel converters, resonant converters, or MVDC distribution
• Fluency in Altium and/or KiCad, ANSYS, Spice, PLECS, PSIM

Bonus Experience

• Medium voltage power electronics and operation
• DERs and/or inverter product development
• Knowledge of relevant industry standards (UL 1741, etc)
• Overseeing or operating technical laboratory, prototyping, or shared infrastructure environments with rigorous attention to safety (EH&S), resource allocation, and operational efficiency

You’re described as a

• 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

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 - $225,000 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