Sr. Manager, Hardware and Firmware - BESS systems

Job description

Enphase Energy is a global energy technology company and a leading provider of solar, battery, and electric vehicle charging products. Founded in 2006, our innovative microinverter technology revolutionized solar power, making it a safer, more reliable, and scalable energy source. Today, the Enphase Energy System enables users to make, use, save, and sell their own power. Enphase is also one of the most successful and innovative clean energy companies in the world, with more than 80 million products shipped across 160 countries. Join our dynamic teams designing and developing next-gen energy technologies and help drive a sustainable About the Role As Principal Product RE, you will own end-to-end product development, integrating inverter hardware with cooling/thermal systems, safety, and controls — connecting to the BMS and Site EMS — for utility-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) spanning outdoor cabinets and containerized platforms. You will lead the design of liquid-cooled, air-cooled, and hybrid thermal systems supporting multi-MW/MWh BESS installations operating in data centers. This role requires deep, hands-on expertise in inverter system design, thermal cooling, advanced simulation, and BESS safety compliance. You will lead a team of hardware, firmware, and mechanical engineers across thermal, site controls, sensor/safety, and manufacturing functions to ensure the product meets performance, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, compliance, and cost targets — delivering production-ready designs from concept through deployment while optimizing CAPEX and long-term OPEX. What You Will Do Develop in-house or outsourced thermal cooling solutions (liquid cooling, heat exchangers) across the full product lifecycle. Work in cross-functional teams of inverter hardware, firmware, test automation, and mechanical engineers, including teams spread across geographies such as Bangalore, India. Specify, design, verify, and debug complex site controls connecting to the BMS (battery management system) and EMS (energy management system). Integrate grid-scale inverter PCS with MWh-scale DC BESS for data centers. Participate in early-stage product development, communicate expectations, and ensure successful capture of design, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, test, and service requirements. Develop schedules for new product development from concept to launch — setting milestones, assessing and mitigating risks, building action plans, coordinating activities, and driving results across cross-functional teams. Conduct regular project status meetings with the project team and stakeholders to communicate and coordinate activities. Deliver new products on time, within budget, and at the expected quality and reliability levels. Serve as the central technical leader across mechanical, electrical, and firmware engineering, cloud/mobile software, quality, manufacturing, and supply chain/operations. Guide daily engineering tasks, including schedule prioritization and tracking the status and resolution of bugs/issues. Facilitate initial build plans, drive material readiness with supply chain, and evaluate constraints. Collaborate with engineering teams to solve technical problems and provide rapid prototyping support. Collaborate with manufacturing and quality teams to develop efficient methods for assembling and testing products. Generate high-value ideas and transform them into platform-level designs. Support system architecture, cost-reduction proposals, and failure root-cause analysis. Engage with internal technical communities and contribute to cross-team knowledge sharing. Mentor and grow engineers on the team. Lead efforts to meet grid code requirements and certifications (UL and IEC) for BESS applications serving data centers. Define engineering requirements, develop test plans, and deliver proofs of concept (POCs). Champion technical excellence, rigorous documentation, and scientific discipline. Serve as a subject matter expert for next-generation platforms. Who You Are and What You Bring B.E. with 15+ years of relevant industry experience, or a Master's degree with 13+ years of relevant industry experience. Proven track record developing high-power, high-voltage power distribution products from concept to market launch in commercial/industrial settings. Experience developing device models for multiple DC and AC parallel connections, with accurate loss estimation using simulation tools. Expertise in cooling design and optimization, balancing cost and performance across product applications. Proficiency in tolerance analysis, worst-case analysis (WCA), DPPM, DFMEA/AFMEA, and root-cause analysis for field failures. Extensive knowledge of high-voltage integration of 277/480V grid-connected systems and data centers. Strong site controls design, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills. Hands-on experience with Python and embedded software for inverter controls development, within a test automation environment. Strong system-level understanding of PCS architectures, battery rooms, DC- vs. AC-coupled systems, and thermal coordination with BMS, EMS, and PCS derating logic. Demonstrated technical leadership: leading programs, influencing architecture decisions, and mentoring senior and staff-level engineers. What Will Make You Satand Out Subject expertise in one or more of the following: High-voltage DC and AC power distribution units (PDUs). High-density liquid cooling thermal design for high-volume manufacturing. Field quality improvement and cost reduction through Value Analysis/Value Engineering (VAVE). Experience designing cabinet and containerized solutions. Site EMS experience with inverter and BMS controls. Work Location This role is based at our Austin, Texas office and requires working on-site 5 days per week. The base pay range for this position is $130,000 to $183,000 per year. This salary range may be modified in the future. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, education or training, work location, and market conditions. This position is also eligible for bonus, equity, and benefits.