Senior Innovation Engineer - Electrical Systems

Job description

Tame 42 megawatts at 13.8kV, protect it, control it, and deliver it through a power architecture built to scale to gigawatts for next-generation AI data centers. Boom Supersonic is building Superpower — a 42-megawatt industrial gas turbine derived from supersonic propulsion technology, purpose-built for frontier AI data centers where power demand is scaling faster than the grid can keep up. This role owns the medium-voltage system that turns shaft power into dependable 13.8kV electrical power, carrying it from generator terminals to islanded load while ensuring the system can protect itself, stay online, and deliver power when it matters. This is medium-voltage electrical engineering at industrial scale. The Superpower platform is designed to operate in arrays that scale to gigawatt-class islanded power. There is no grid to lean on for frequency reference, fault current, or voltage stability. You're not designing a system that parallels an infinite bus and lets the grid handle the hard problems. You're defining from first principles how a standalone 13.8kV machine starts, regulates voltage and frequency, rides through transients, protects itself under fault conditions, and delivers reliable power to critical loads. Grid interconnect is an option for certain applications — but off-grid is the primary design condition, and the harder one. There's no existing system to reference and no legacy protection scheme to copy. This is the kind of role where that's the point — and we're looking for an engineer who finds genuine energy in the parts of the job nobody has done before. What You'll Own You'll lead the end-to-end electrical design of the 13.8kV medium-voltage system on Superpower — from architecture through first energization, endurance testing, and field commissioning. That means being in the room (and on the test floor) for all of it, with real influence over the outcome at every stage. In practice, that means: Defining the MV architecture, single-line diagrams, protection philosophy, and concept of operations during preliminary design, including long-lead switchgear and generator circuit breaker specification and sourcing. Producing protection coordination studies, relay settings, and MV electrical drawings through detailed design. Leading first energization, relay commissioning, synchronization, load acceptance, and step-load testing. The 13.8kV electrical system is yours, end-to-end: Generation, distribution, and protection of all medium-voltage power, from 13.8kV generator terminals through switchgear to downstream loads and optional grid interconnect. Generator excitation, voltage regulation, and interface requirements with the turbine control system. Switchgear and breaker systems, including generator circuit breakers, feeder breakers, and bus-tie configurations. Protection relay selection, settings, and coordination — differential, overcurrent, ground fault, voltage, and frequency protection. Fault-current management, interrupting-duty analysis, and equipment rating coordination. Frequency control, synchronization, and load acceptance for islanded operation. CT/PT selection, metering, and sensing infrastructure for protection, control, and monitoring. MV load bank integration, transient response, and step-load testing. Neutral grounding strategy and ground fault detection. Arc-flash hazard analysis, electrical safety systems, and interlock design. You probably have: Deep hands-on experience with medium-voltage systems — switchgear, breakers, protective relaying, grounding, and generator integration in industrial or power-generation environments. A solid understanding of rotating machinery: generator behavior, excitation, AVR systems, synchronization, and transient response under load, faults, and trips. Experience with protection coordination — relay selection, settings, differential and overcurrent schemes — and the ability to own that work from study through commissioning. The ability to read and produce clean MV electrical drawings (one-lines, wire diagrams, panel layouts) that can be built and commissioned without ambiguity. Comfort working across mechanical, controls, and instrumentation teams and translating between them when needed. You will thrive here if: You have a clear point of view on how medium-voltage systems should be built, and you'd rather voice it early than quietly inherit someone else's assumptions. First energization day is exciting to you, not just stressful — and when something doesn't work, you're the one who wants to be tracing it. You're as comfortable on a switchgear lineup as you are at a desk producing coordination studies. You want to be the reason the system works — not just a contributor to the process that produced it. Compensation P3 Level — Typically 5–10 years of experience — Base salary range: $124,800 - $167,700 P4 Level — Typically 10–15 years of experience — Base salary range: $139,200 - $187,050 P5 Level — Typically 15 + years of experience — Base salary range: $152,500 – $205,000 Actual salaries will vary based on factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Boom's total rewards package for employees. Other rewards may include long-term incentives/equity, a flexible PTO policy, and many other progressive benefits. There is no set deadline to apply for this job opportunity. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the search is no longer active. ITAR Requirement To conform to U.S. Government aerospace technology export regulations (ITAR and EAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about ITAR here. Boom is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need. Want to build a faster future? Come join Boom.