Principal Electrical Engineer - Power Electronics
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- New Brighton, Minnesota, United States
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Principal
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 8+ years
- Category
- Industrial engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or closely related field (Master’s preferred but not required)
- 8+ years of hands-on power electronics experience (Principal level typically 12+)
- Demonstrated experience designing PCB-based power electronics in the 0.5 kW to 5.0 kW power range
- Strong understanding of magnetics, core and resistive losses, and thermal management in power designs
- Experience selecting and testing power semiconductor devices (MOSFET, IGBT, SiC, GaN, etc.)
- Familiarity with multiple power converter architectures and how they integrate with MCU/DSP-based control systems
- Experience designing for environmental constraints (IP-rated enclosures, sealing, encapsulation/potting, vibration/handling considerations)
- Proven track record bringing power electronics to market: requirements - design - validation - manufacturing handoff
- Strong technical judgment, ability to troubleshoot in the lab, and comfort making tradeoffs under real constraints
- Able to work independently while collaborating tightly with a small engineering team
Full description
About Verterra Energy
At Verterra Energy, we’re on a mission to harness the power in the world’s rivers, canals and oceans. To do this, we are commercializing our first device, VOLTURNUS. It is a pioneering water-power technology that deploys in harmony with the current to capture baseline, zero-emission electricity.
Backed by top-tier investors and multiple government contracts, we are growing our founding team to help hit key milestones. Partners and collaborators include the DoD, DoE, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Air Force.
Recent press releases:
About the Role
Verterra Energy is seeking a Senior to Principal level Electrical Engineer (typically 8-15+ years) with deep, hands-on expertise in power electronics. This role is for a builder - someone who can own real power hardware end-to-end, make practical design decisions, and bring robust power electronics from requirements through manufacturing.
You will work closely with mechanical and controls engineers to develop generator-adjacent power conversion, power management, and internal test platforms. The emphasis is technical leadership, execution, and sound engineering judgment - not over-engineering, and not narrow specialization.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead power electronics design for low-to-mid power systems in the 0.5 kW to 5.0 kW range
- Define architecture and requirements for power conversion solutions connected to small generators and internal test platforms
- Design and develop high-power PCBA solutions (schematics + layout; Altium preferred)
- Design, integrate, and validate converter topologies (buck/boost, isolated and non-isolated DC-DC, inverter/rectifier stages as applicable)
- Own magnetics-related design decisions: inductor/transformer selection or design, core and copper loss considerations, thermal tradeoffs
- Select, characterize, and validate power semiconductor devices (MOSFET, IGBT, SiC, GaN, BJT as applicable), including gate drive considerations and switching loss tradeoffs
- Develop practical protection and reliability approaches (EMI/EMC basics, inrush, transient protection, fault handling, thermal protection)
- Integrate power electronics with MCU/DSP controllers: sensing, feedback loops at a system level, interfaces, and bring-up support (firmware collaboration expected; not a pure firmware role)
- Build, assemble, and bring up prototypes in the lab; debug issues quickly and methodically
- Plan and execute validation testing using oscilloscopes, power analyzers, supplies, loads, thermal tools, and instrumentation