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
Tau is validating power electronics at the boundary between hardware, controls, software, thermal systems, and the vehicle. Failures rarely belong neatly to one discipline. The job is to design tests that expose those interactions, distinguish product problems from test problems, and turn ambiguous system behavior into defensible engineering conclusions.
This role owns test planning and execution for Tau's power conversion products, including electric motors, onboard chargers, DC-DC converters, and power modules for EV powertrains. You'll define what "validated" means for a given program, plan and run the dynamometer, high-voltage, reliability, thermal, and vibration campaigns that prove it, and drive anomalies to root cause using Tau's existing test capability.
You'll also be one of Tau's technical faces to the outside world. When a customer or Tier 1 partner needs someone onsite to run dynamometer testing on their floor, troubleshoot alongside their engineering team, and represent Tau's product credibly under their scrutiny, that's you.
What you'll do
Test strategy and planning
- Build systematic integration and test plans with clear sequencing,
- entry/exit criteria, instrumentation, configuration baselines, expected
- behavior, evidence, decision records, owners, and closure criteria
- Define the dynamometer, high-voltage, reliability, thermal, and
- vibration test campaigns needed to validate power conversion products
- against requirements
- Set technical standards for what counts as validated, calibrated, and trustworthy, including reliability and durability sign-off, and hold the work to them
- Prioritize and sequence test coverage against program risk and milestones, in collaboration with the engineers who own the design
Test execution and analysis
- Direct and coordinate lab test operations from pre-test preparation through execution, serving as the focal point for test sequencing, anomaly response, and troubleshooting
- Run dynamometer and high-voltage test campaigns to characterize performance, efficiency, and reliability of power conversion products under real-world load conditions
- Execute reliability, thermal, and vibration testing to validate designs
- against durability and environmental requirements
- Use lab test equipment and Tau's simulation/emulation environment to set up test cases, validate system requirements, and investigate issues
- Interpret wiring diagrams and perform hands-on electrical
- troubleshooting using oscilloscopes, meters, and sensors
- Debug anomalies to root cause and feed findings back to the relevant design teams, collaborating on resolution and re-verification
Customer and third-party support
- Provide onsite integration and test support at customer and partner facilities — for example, running dynamometer campaigns at a Tier 1 supplier and interfacing directly with their technical team
- Represent Tau technically in front of customers and partners:
- troubleshoot jointly, answer for your test data, and translate field
- findings into corrective action back at Tau
- Coordinate test schedules and logistics across internal and external
- stakeholders when running campaigns off-site
Cross-functional collaboration
- Partner with power electronics, controls, embedded software, and
- mechanical engineers to develop test plans and procedures
- Communicate status, risk, and anomalies clearly to the broader
- program
- Mentor other engineers, lead work breakdowns and planning, and drive
- resolution of complex, cross-cutting issues
What you need
- 6+ years of experience in automotive system integration and test, or related field
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics,
- Controls, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent demonstrated experience
- Demonstrated experience planning and directing test campaigns, including briefing teams, managing anomalies, and making real-time execution decisions
- Experience developing test plans and procedures — sequencing, entry/exit criteria, coverage — for complex, integrated systems
- Hands-on experience with dynamometer testing and high-voltage system safety practices (lockout/tagout, interlocks, HV PPE)
- Experience with reliability, thermal, or vibration/environmental test methods
- Technical understanding of test equipment (oscilloscopes, meters, sensors) and hands-on electrical troubleshooting, including reading wiring diagrams
- Experience with MATLAB/Simulink or comparable tools in a real-time simulation environment
- Strong command of communication protocols: CAN/CAN-FD, RS- 422/485, Ethernet/TCP-IP, or similar
- Holistic understanding of automotive powertrain systems and their impact on higher-level vehicle capability
- Willingness to travel for onsite customer and supplier support
- Strong problem-solving, cross-functional collaboration, and communication skills, written and verbal
Bonus qualifications
- Experience with high-voltage power electronics, inverters, or EV/energy storage powertrains
- Prior experience testing onsite at a Tier 1 automotive supplier or OEM test facility
- Proficiency in the NI software suite (LabVIEW, VeriStand)
- Strong C/C++ and Python skills
- Familiarity with functional safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262, or comparable industrial/automotive safety frameworks)
- Startup or fast-paced hard tech development experience
What success looks like in year one
- Engineers trust your test plans and coverage calls enough to make design decisions on them without double-checking
- You've planned and run dyno, HV, or reliability campaigns that closed out a program's validation requirements on schedule
- Customers and partners trust you to run test campaigns on their floor and represent Tau's product credibly, without needing an escort
- You're the person the team calls when a result doesn't look right, and your read on it holds up
- You're still hands-on: executing test cases, chasing anomalies, and in
the room for the hard calls, not managing the lab from a distance
Compensation & Benefits
US Salary Information
$170,000.00 - $220,000.00
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 . 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
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Become part of an emerging company during a rapid growth phase—within an industry undergoing dramatic transformation for a global imperative.
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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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