Star Catcher Industries, Inc., located in Jacksonville, FL, is seeking an experienced Senior Power Electronics Engineer to design the critical hardware that enables our technology development. You will be responsible for interfacing directly into our spacecraft’s onboard battery system and developing the high-power regulators and conditioners needed to deliver clean, continuous power to the lasers. This is a high-stakes, high-reliability challenge, and we need an expert with a proven ability to design robust, high-current power electronics capable of operating in a space-based environment.
Key Responsibilities
- High-Power Design: Architect, design, and analyze high-power DC-DC converters, regulators, and power conditioning units capable of sustaining multi-kilowatt continuous loads.
- Battery Integration: Design safe, efficient interfaces to tap directly into the spacecraft's primary battery system, managing extreme current draws, high discharge rates, and transient behaviors during high-power beaming operations.
- Thermal & Stress Management: Work closely with mechanical and thermal engineers to ensure power electronics can survive the extreme thermal dissipation requirements of a continuous, multi-kilowatt load in a vacuum.
- Testing & Validation: Develop and execute rigorous test plans (including EMI/EMC, TVAC, and vibration) to validate power electronics from the breadboard phase through flight qualification.
- Hi-Rel Component Selection: Select and qualify components for high-reliability, space-flight applications, ensuring survivability against radiation (TID, SEE) and extreme thermal cycling.
- Team Leadership: Mentor junior engineers, lead a dedicated power electronics team, and efficiently manage technical relationships with external contractors and vendors.
Basic Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline.
- Experience: 7+ years of professional experience in power electronics design, specifically with high-power, high-current regulators and power conditioning systems.
Technical Expertise
- Deep understanding of switching power supply topologies (e.g., buck, boost, forward, flyback, full-bridge, LLC).
- Proven experience in schematic capture and PCB layout for high-power circuits utilizing advanced EDA tools (e.g., Altium Designer or equivalent), alongside circuit simulation, SI/PI, and thermal analysis suites (e.g., Ansys or equivalent).
- Strong background in managing thermals, EMI/EMC, and grounding in high-power systems.
- Mindset: Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and tackle unprecedented engineering problems with a rigorous, analytical approach.
Preferred Qualifications
- Satellite EPS Architecture (Highly Desired): Direct experience designing overall Electrical Power System (EPS) architectures for satellites, including battery management systems (BMS), solar array regulators, and power distribution.
- Laser/Optics Power (Highly Desired): Prior experience designing power supplies specifically for high-power lasers, directed energy, or large-scale optical payloads.
- Space Flight Experience: Proven track record of designing hardware that has flown in space. Familiarity with radiation-hardened or radiation-tolerant design practices.
- Aerospace Standards: Strong familiarity with key industry standards for testing, qualification, and manufacturing, including MIL-STD-461 (EMI/EMC), MIL-STD-810, NASA GEVS, or IPC J-STD-001 Space Addendum.
- Advanced Degrees: Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Power Electronics or a related field.
Help us deploy and scale space infrastructure that will drive our utilization of space forward! We offer a highly competitive benefits package including access to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) retirement plan, life insurance, and paid parental leave, in addition to other benefits.
Star Catcher is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Star Catcher is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
All offers of employment at Star Catcher are contingent upon results of a thorough background check and your ability to provide proof of eligibility to work in the US.
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you 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.