Senior Power Electronics Controller Architect

Job Summary

An opportunity to join a team of world class engineers in creating leading edge power components and solutions. This position provides direct exposure to new controller development and technologies, with opportunities to innovate and mature ground breaking solutions that represent the state of the art in power conversion. We are seeking engineers with analog skills, creativity, talent, experience and a drive for success in a collaborative work environment. This is an ideal opportunity for an “out of the box thinker” who has strong analytical and problem solving skills, good background in analog electrical engineering, and experience designing power supplies or designing with power components. There are many opportunities to advance and increase responsibilities in Product Development Engineering in support of growing product lines.    

Job Description

The Senior Power Electronics Controller Architect will be a key member of a team developing innovative concepts, and key mixed-signal ICs which will be implemented in Vicor Power Modules. The position primarily involves advance power architecture development and key power ICs using simulation, calculation and analytical models for prediction of design concept outcome including control loop stability, transient responses, layout analysis and parasitic extractions for the next generation products.  In this position the Senior Power Electronics Controller Architect provides support to IC Design Team during:

• Definition Stage of the controller with design analysis, risk assessments, Design Goal Specifications and simulation test cases
• Validation Stage of the controller with test plan/results, mitigation plans, development lessons learned and proof of concepts. Hands-on work in lab is must
• Implementation into Power Module Stage with Trim Procedures, Module PCB layout review and power seminars and training for cross-functional teams.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Outline controller requirements based on system performance requirements.
• Writing specifications and working closely with other organizations to insure that models meet customer and market requirements.
• Model controller functionalities in order to Evaluate new control strategies.
• Support definition of new controllers/products by providing design assessment and tradeoff analysis.
• Test, validate, and troubleshoot controller implementation functionalities.
• Must be familiar with challenges of mixed-signal ICs design. Must posses knowledge and experience with both analog and digital design with an emphasis on analog.
• Develop models of power systems to assess stability, transient, and EMI performance.
• Verify controller model functionalities, correlate performance and accuracy against bench data.
• Development documentation including design calculators to accurately design the new controller into power converters.
• Working independently and with other members of the team on various projects involving Vicor Power Components.
• Lead innovation through exemplary behavior and team work.
• Basic understanding of IC manufacturing and testing processes a plus.

Education / Qualifications

• Master of Science in Electrical Engineering or equivalent, PhD a plus.
• 6+ years experience in power electronics design and/or analog IC design.
• Experience simulating controllers for power electronics converter.
• Experience designing DC-DC and/or AC-DC power electronics and systems.
• Familiarity/experience with analog and mixed-signal circuit design such as op-amp, bandgap, DAC, ADC.
• Experience with modeling and simulating microcontroller firmware and state machines a plus.
• Extensive knowledge of simulation tools such as Simplis/Simetrix, PSPICE, LTSpice, Qspice, MATLAB, SIMULINK.
• Experience with PCB simulation tools (Altium, Cadence Power DC, Power SI, CST) for analyzing and optimizing Power Delivery Networks a plus.
• Excellent understanding of analog design and an analytical approach to engineering.
• Understanding of feedback and control systems, Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) design.
• Comfortable with lab equipment used in the characterization and design of power supplies and systems (oscilloscopes, DMMs, Network Analyzers, EMI analyzers, loads, sources, etc.)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, comfortable presenting at a technical level.
• Ability to manage projects and work with other departments to meet deadlines and communicate critical design goals.
• Willingness to learn and adopt the use of software tools in support of job function required.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

Vicor is an Equal Opportunity employer – M/F/Veteran/Disability. 

Compensation Data

Salary Range:

$100,000 - $130,000

Please note: This range is based on our current market driven pay structures. Individual salaries are determined based upon a variety of factors including but not limited to, a candidates overall qualifications, such as skills, education, and experience as well as company internal equity.