Pulsed Power Operations Engineer

Salary Range: 97750 to 138000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

Responsibilities

• Safely operate, maintain, troubleshoot, and improve high-voltage, high-current pulsed-power systems and experimental hardware. 
• Perform electrical diagnostics using oscilloscopes, probes, meters, and other test equipment to evaluate system performance and identify faults. 
• Analyze transient waveforms and test data to identify abnormal behavior, equipment degradation, and potential root causes. 
• Inspect, test, install, and replace electrical components including capacitors, resistors, inductors, switches, cables, connectors, and other high-voltage hardware. 
• Support preventive and corrective maintenance, component refurbishment, system commissioning, and equipment readiness activities. 
• Prepare systems for testing and support pre-shot, post-shot, and troubleshooting activities during experimental campaigns. 
• Read and interpret schematics, drawings, procedures, component datasheets, and technical documentation. 
• Develop and maintain operational procedures, checklists, test documentation, and equipment records. 
• Work closely with engineers, technicians, scientists, and subject matter experts to resolve technical issues and improve system reliability. 
• Participate in root-cause investigations, failure analysis, and continuous improvement efforts focused on safety, reliability, repeatability, and operational efficiency. 
• Maintain accurate records of system performance, maintenance activities, failures, and lessons learned. 
• Develop technical expertise in pulsed-power systems, high-voltage engineering, transient diagnostics, and laboratory operations. 
• Train and qualify as a Pulsed Power Controller for the Phoenix Laser System.
• Serve as a Pulsed Power Controller, executing procedures and working in support of the Shot Director, during laser experiment operations.
• Develop procedures and other shot operations infrastructure for the Phoenix pulsed power system.
• Perform hands-on integration and maintenance work with the Phoenix team during maintenance and upgrade windows.

Qualifications

• Education: Masters or Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering with coursework and/or lab work in pulsed power applications preferred. 
• Experience: 2+ years of experience in pulsed power or other high voltage test operations 
• Entry-level engineers and candidates with strong laboratory, test, or hands-on engineering experience are encouraged to apply. 
• Experience working on and operating complex, high risk systems. 
• Strong understanding of electrical circuit fundamentals, including Ohm’s Law, Kirchhoff’s Laws, voltage/current relationships, impedance, power, and energy. 
• Demonstrated ability to perform DC and AC circuit analysis and analyze series/parallel networks. 
• Understanding of first- and second-order electrical circuits, including RC, RL, and RLC circuits and their transient response. 
• Ability to understand and apply the fundamentals of energy storage and energy transfer in capacitors, inductors, and other energy-storage systems. 
• Highly proficient with oscilloscopes and electrical test equipment, including the ability to properly configure measurements, select appropriate probes, understand bandwidth and sampling considerations, identify measurement artifacts, and interpret waveforms. 
• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, circuit diagrams, and engineering drawings. 
• Ability to identify common electrical components, including resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, switches, relays, transformers, connectors, and high-voltage components, and understand their basic functions. 
• Ability to read and interpret component datasheets and technical specifications, including voltage, current, power, capacitance, inductance, tolerance, insulation ratings, temperature ratings, and other relevant operating limits. 
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot electrical systems using a systematic, data-driven approach, including identifying abnormal component behavior and determining likely root causes. 
• Ability to recognize common indicators of failed, degraded, or improperly operating electrical components through visual inspection, electrical measurements, waveform analysis, and comparison against expected performance. 
• Understanding of basic electrical safety and high-voltage laboratory practices, including appropriate use of PPE, grounding, discharge procedures, interlocks, and safe work practices around stored electrical energy. 
• Ability to work effectively with engineers, technicians, scientists, and other laboratory personnel in a hands-on test environment. 
• Strong technical communication skills, including the ability to document test results, anomalies, troubleshooting activities, and equipment status clearly and accurately. 
• Ability to work in a fast-paced laboratory environment where equipment configuration, test conditions, and priorities may change rapidly. 
• Ability to follow optical layouts and drawings and translate them into physical setups. 
• Basic mobility - (ability to stand for extended periods, ability to lift up to 50 pounds, etc.) 
• Must be willing to work on a set 8-hour shift with set start and stop times.  Must also be willing to work over on non-shift hours during critical times. 
• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee of granted asylum.

Desired

• Previous experience working in a laboratory, test, integration, commissioning, manufacturing, or experimental engineering environment. 
• Experience operating and troubleshooting high-voltage or high-current electrical systems. 
• Familiarity with pulsed-power systems, pulse-forming networks, Marx generators, capacitor banks, pulse generators, or other high-energy electrical systems.  
• Pulsed-power experience is desirable but not required. 
• Experience with high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, differential probes, current probes, Rogowski coils, B-dot/D-dot probes, voltage dividers, or other transient diagnostic equipment. 
• Experience analyzing fast transient electrical waveforms, including pulse amplitude, rise time, fall time, pulse width, ringing, overshoot, timing, jitter, and waveform-to-waveform variation. 
• Familiarity with high-voltage insulation, dielectric breakdown, surface tracking, arcing, corona, and electrical discharge phenomena. 
• Understanding of practical considerations associated with stored electrical energy, including energy calculations, charging systems, discharge paths, parasitic inductance/capacitance, and component stress. 
• Experience performing component inspection and acceptance testing, including electrical measurements, visual inspection, dimensional inspection, and comparison against specifications or previous baseline data. 
• Experience developing or following test procedures, operational procedures, checklists, and configuration-control documentation. 
• Experience participating in root-cause investigations, failure analysis, corrective actions, and equipment maintenance. 
• Ability to distinguish between instrumentation or measurement problems and actual hardware problems when troubleshooting experimental systems. 
• Experience working with technicians and contributing to the development of repeatable, reliable, and efficient laboratory operations. 
• Experience in environments requiring rigorous attention to configuration control, equipment readiness, preventive maintenance, and operational discipline.