Senior Hardware Design Engineer, Power Electronics

About Tau Power conversion is the bottleneck between the compute, energy, and mobility industries and the future they're trying to build. Most of the industry is still solving it with decades-old approaches. Tau is fixing that. We're a venture-backed hardtech company in Redwood City, building power conversion technology for data centers, EVs, and energy systems. Several products are already moving into production.

We hire people who own problems end-to-end: power electronics, embedded software, controls, test and validation, mechanical design. We solve from first principles, not legacy playbooks. We're past "promising technology." Customers are buying, volume is coming, and the people who join now set the standard everyone builds on after.

About the Role

We seek an experienced and highly accomplished Senior Hardware Design Engineer, Power Electronics, to join our innovative team at Tau Motors. In this crucial role, you will spearhead the development of cutting-edge power electronics systems for next-generation electric vehicles and energy storage solutions. As a critical member of our power electronics team, you will drive the design, build, and validation of advanced power converter circuits and systems, contributing significantly to Tau's technology roadmap and product offerings. The role also offers growth opportunities in other areas of power electronics, including modeling, control, and firmware.

Because our success depends on collaboration, we expect new employees to work onsite five days a week to build strong working relationships with the team.

Our Engineering Approach

Solve customer problems, not engineering puzzles. Great technical work becomes exceptional when it creates reliable products, enables meaningful new capability, and solves real customer problems.

Think in systems. Understand how your work affects the complete product and the people who build it. Make tradeoffs that improve the whole, not just your direct area of ownership.

Exercise judgment. Apply the engineering rigor the risk requires. Make timely decisions with the available evidence, communicate uncertainty, and balance technical excellence with program needs.

Raise the standard. Deliver quality work on time, improve how the team works, and leave the products, systems, tools, and people around you better than you found them.

What You'll Do

• Design schematics and PCB layouts for AC/DC, DC/DC, and DC/AC converters, including PFC, isolated DC/DC, inverter, and onboard charger stages.
• Lay out Si, SiC, and GaN power stages with low commutation loop inductance, low parasitic capacitance, and clean switching behavior.
• Design and route gate drive, isolation, and protection circuits for noise immunity and robustness to common-mode transients.
• Define stackups, power and signal planes, heavy-copper current paths, and grounding for mixed-signal boards with analog sensing, ADCs/DACs, and microcontrollers.
• Apply creepage, clearance, and insulation requirements (IEC 60664, IEC 62368, UL) to high-voltage designs.
• Optimize layouts for thermal performance (copper spreading, thermal vias, IPC-2152 current capacity) and EMC compliance.
• Select components and integrate magnetics and capacitors, paying attention to field coupling, ripple-current paths, and mechanical fit.
• Build and maintain footprints, symbols, and 3D models in the component library.
• Run PI/SI, thermal, and parasitic extraction analyses to verify layouts before fabrication.
• Release fabrication and assembly outputs (Gerber/ODB++, drill, fab and assembly drawings), applying DFM/DFA/DFT and IPC standards.
• Work with fab houses and contract manufacturers to resolve build issues and improve yield.
• Bring up, debug, and validate boards in the lab, and feed the results back into layout revisions.

What You’ll Bring

• A degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of hardware and PCB design experience in power electronics, preferably automotive, EV charging, or high-voltage conversion.
• Hands-on schematic and layout experience with onboard chargers, bidirectional chargers, inverters, or isolated converters.
• Understanding how layout affects switching waveforms, losses, and EMI.
• Experience designing and laying out SiC/GaN power stages, gate drivers, and protection circuits.
• Proficiency in Altium, Cadence Allegro/OrCAD, or Siemens Xpedition/PADS.
• Expertise in stackups, heavy copper, impedance control, and mixed-signal layout.
• Knowledge of high-voltage spacing rules and thermal design for high-current boards.
• Experience releasing boards to volume production.
• Strong lab skills, including oscilloscopes, current probes, and power analyzers.
• Familiarity with UL, CE, EMC, and automotive reliability standards (AEC-Q, IATF 16949) is a plus.
• Experience with simulation tools (SPICE, HyperLynx, SIwave, Icepak, Q3D) is a plus.

Compensation and Benefits

US Salary Information

$155,000.00 to $185,000.00 Tau is committed to paying competitive compensation that is fair and equitable. Your experience, qualifications, training, critical skills, and/or business considerations determine your compensation. We also offer a comprehensive benefits package that may include an annual performance bonus, equity, and other incentive compensation plans considered part of Tau’s total compensation package. To learn more about our top-tier benefits, please visit www.taumotors.com. The level will depend on the candidate’s experience. Our ideal candidate exhibits a can-do attitude and approaches his or her work with vigor and determination. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate excellence in their respective fields and possess the ability to learn quickly within a fast-paced environment.

Perks

• Become part of an emerging company during a rapid growth phase - within an industry undergoing dramatic transformation for a global imperative.

• Work with some of the smartest and most talented experts from different fields to: (1) attack some of the most pressing issues of today while (2) contributing to technically demanding and deeply innovative solutions.

• Growth potential - we advance team members who have an outsized impact.
• Competitive compensation based upon experience level, including stock options - we believe in capturing value in the future we create together.
• Flexible time off and paid holidays.
• Centrally located in the Bay Area on the Peninsula in vibrant downtown Redwood City
• Blocks from the Caltrain
• Walking distance to food and entertainment
• Easy access to both the 101 and 280
• Excellent medical, dental, vision & life insurance
• Comprehensive benefits including 401(k), HSA and FSA benefits, commuter benefits and more

Equal Opportunity Employer

Tau is an equal opportunity employer that guarantees a work environment that respects and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

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