Senior Power Electronics Engineer

Job description

ABOUT ENDURANCE Endurance is building the world's first modular subsea geothermal power plants, converting vast thermal resources under the ocean into gigawatts of baseload power. Backed by Founders Fund, Felicis, First Round Capital, and Point72 Ventures, our founding team includes veterans from SpaceX, Helion, Blue Origin, and Apple. We have completed multiple deep-ocean deployments to subsea volcanoes and are launching a long-term demonstration project this fall. By leveraging modular design, manufacturing scale, efficient drilling, and latent cooling on the seafloor, we are pioneering a new category of energy that outperforms traditional sources on environmental impact, deployment speed, and cost. WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING We’re seeking a Senior Power Electronics Engineer to architect and own electrical power systems that enable subsea generation, conditioning, and delivery of energy to shore. This is a foundational role. You will design power architectures from first principles, develop and release high-reliability PCBAs, and drive systems from early concept through offshore deployment. You will own everything from topology selection and magnetics design to layout, thermal management, EMI control, validation testing, and field performance. If a converter fails at depth, you will understand why and ensure it does not fail again. You will blend deep theoretical expertise in power electronics with hands-on experience shipping hardware. This is not a simulation-only role. We are looking for someone who has personally selected topologies, designed magnetics, laid out high-power PCBAs, brought up boards in the lab, debugged switching noise and instability, and driven designs through revision cycles into production. You understand the difference between a stable model and a converter operating at full load in a harsh electrical and thermal environment. You will own the full PCBA lifecycle from architecture and schematic capture through layout review, fabrication, bring-up, validation testing, design iteration, and field performance analysis. You will work cross-functionally with mechanical, controls, subsea systems, and offshore operations teams to ensure our power systems are efficient, stable, fault-tolerant, and serviceable. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Architect and design subsea power conversion and distribution systems from generator interface through export and load integration - Select and justify converter topologies for AC-DC, DC-DC, and DC-AC systems based on efficiency, fault tolerance, thermal constraints, and scalability - Design high-power PCBAs including schematic capture, magnetics design, gate drive architecture, current sensing, isolation strategy, and protection circuitry - Own PCB layout review with specific attention to high di/dt loops, parasitic inductance, creepage and clearance, EMI containment, and thermal paths - Mechanically collaborate on packaging, heat rejection, pressure-tolerant enclosures, and high-voltage isolation within subsea assemblies - Define and implement system-level protection philosophy including overcurrent, overvoltage, short-circuit, ground fault detection, isolation monitoring, and coordinated fault response - Develop fault trees and failure containment strategies to prevent single-point electrical failures from propagating through the system - Lead board bring-up, lab validation, and full-load testing including efficiency characterization, thermal validation, EMI testing, and fault injection - Drive root cause investigations for converter instability, switching noise, insulation breakdown, component overstress, and field failures - Own the full system lifecycle including fabrication release, vendor coordination, revision control, and production readiness - Integrate power hardware cleanly with controls, firmware, mechanical systems, and offshore operations - Establish electrical design standards, review rigor, documentation discipline, and reliability practices appropriate for subsea energy infrastructure QUALIFICATIONS - 6+ years of experience designing and shipping power electronics hardware in demanding or high-reliability environments - Demonstrated experience architecting complete power systems, not just individual boards or subcircuits - Deep understanding of power conversion fundamentals including topology tradeoffs, control loop stability, magnetics design, switching losses, thermal modeling, and efficiency optimization - Proven experience designing high-power PCBAs including schematic capture, layout collaboration or ownership, isolation strategy, and protection circuitry - Strong working knowledge of grounding, shielding, EMI mitigation, creepage and clearance requirements, and high di/dt layout practices - Experience implementing and validating protection strategies including overcurrent, overvoltage, short-circuit, ground fault detection, and fault isolation - Hands-on lab experience bringing up high-power hardware, debugging instability, chasing down noise and parasitics, and performing controlled fault injection - Experience with high-voltage systems or DC buses preferred, including practical understanding of insulation coordination and safety considerations - Demonstrated ownership of hardware through full lifecycle including board release, fabrication, bring-up, revision control, and production transition - Ability to think from first principles and challenge legacy assumptions when appropriate - High ownership mentality and comfort being the single-threaded owner of a critical electrical system - Strong cross-disciplinary communication skills and ability to collaborate with mechanical, controls, subsea, and offshore operations teams - Entrepreneurial mindset and willingness to operate in ambiguity while building a new class of energy infrastructure COMPENSATION, BENEFITS, & PERKS As a pre-revenue startup, Endurance Energy offers competitive base salaries and generous equity packages for full-time employees. Final base salary will be determined by an array of factors including internal equity, job-related knowledge, skills, and work experience. A key aspect of our compensation philosophy is that value creation should be aligned with rewards. Right now this means equity is a significant portion of every full-time employee's compensation. As the company matures, there will be continued evolution and changes to the total rewards and total compensation package. What will always be true is that if we win, we win together. Equity is granted to every full-time employee as a meaningful piece of ownership. We believe the people building the company should share directly in the value they create. In addition to a competitive base salary and equity, employees will receive all of our other great benefits and perks, including: - Benefits: Health, Dental, and Vision insurance coverage - Time Away: Flexible PTO including 12 paid company holidays - Global Fieldwork: Travel to fascinating deployment sites along oceanic ridges in locations like the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, and the Azores - Hands-on Experience: Participate in sea trials and deployment operations in partnership with leading oceanographic institutions - Cutting-edge Development: Work with technology that spans high-power electronics, marine systems, and clean energy - Impactful Work: Help solve one of the world's most pressing challenges - Dive Certification: Company-sponsored recreational dive certification - Other Perks: Access to the company boat, free meals and snacks, and the list goes on! If you’re selected for consideration, a recruiter will be able to discuss in greater detail.