Senior Power Electronics Engineer

About the Company

The datacenter buildout is the largest industrial project in human history. Gradient builds the autonomous robots that make it possible.

Partnered with the world's largest AI infrastructure companies and backed by the industry's best investors, we move fast and build full-stack systems that matter.

About the role

This is a senior individual contributor role. We're looking for a senior power electronics engineer with 3+ years of experience to own power electronics end-to-end at a fast-moving company building robots for AI infrastructure.

You get a goal, not a spec, and run it from there: identify the critical requirements, design the solution (a single PCB or a whole system), bring it up, integrate it with the robot, and make it production-ready. You'll take us from prototype boards to production runs of hundreds, and the standards you set will shape every machine we ship.

Responsibilities

• Own power architecture end-to-end: power distribution, conversion and protection across our robots, plus the trade studies behind each key decision.

• Design and validate the power electronics: DC/DC converters, motor drives, gate drivers, power distribution boards and protection circuitry, from schematic and layout through bring-up and test.

• Take designs to production: understand supply chain and manufacturability, and work with board vendors and contract manufacturers on yield.

• Make it safe from day one: set high-voltage safety practices for our lab and build floor, design for compliance (EMI/EMC, product safety), and take our robots through certification.

• Raise the electrical bar: lead design reviews, keep documentation and cross-team interfaces current, and mentor engineers as the team grows.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering or a related field

• 3+ years of electrical design experience, including power electronics designs you've taken to production

• Deep power electronics fundamentals: converter topologies (buck, boost, flyback, etc.), sizing discrete components (controllers, gate drivers, MOSFETs, magnetics, capacitors, sensing), protection circuitry and common failure modes

• Motor drive design experience: gate drivers, H-bridges, BLDC/PMSM, FOC

• Hands-on PCB design and layout for power and mixed-signal boards, including thermal and layout-level EMC considerations

• A track record of defining requirements yourself and driving cross-system problems to resolution when the spec is unclear

• Strong hardware debugging: you attack a board- or system-level problem, document it and fix it fast

• Able to work on-site in San Francisco 5 days/week, embedded in the team

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at a robotics, industrial automation, EV, eVTOL, solar or industrial servo company

• Battery systems and braking energy: pack integration, BMS, regenerative braking or brake resistors

• High-voltage safety practice, EMI/EMC compliance testing, and taking hardware through safety certification

• Firmware development experience (embedded C/C++ or Rust, motor control, communication protocols)

• Power electronic circuit simulation (LTspice, PLECS or similar)

• Comfort using AI tools to multiply your own output

This is a hands-on role on a flat team, with no layers to manage.