The Principal Power Electronics Engineer will lead the design, testing, and validation of high voltage systems for electric vehicles, focusing on high-power electronics projects and cross-functional collaboration.
About Harbinger
Harbinger is an American commercial electric vehicle (EV) company on a mission to transform an industry starving for innovation. Harbinger’s best-in-class team of EV, battery, and drivetrain experts have pooled their deep experience to bring a first-of-its-kind EV platform to support the growing demand for medium-duty EVs and Hybrids. Harbinger: Familiar Form, Revolutionary Foundation.
Job Overview
As a key technical leader on the Electrical Engineering team, the Power Electronics Engineer will drive the architecture, design, validation, integration, and testing of High Voltage (HV) components and systems for Harbinger’s vehicles. You will own the end-to-end lifecycle of critical power systems, bridging the gap between high-level architectural strategy and hands-on laboratory testing.
We are industry-agnostic for this role; whether your background is in automotive, aerospace, grid storage, renewables, or heavy industry, the core requirement is a proven track record of delivering high-power (100kW+ to Megawatt scale) power electronics projects from concept through validation.
We are open to hiring at the Sr. or Principal level.
What You’ll Do:
- Architect and Lead: Drive the architecture, component selection, analysis, and design of high-power (100kW to MW class) power electronics aimed at high performance and cost optimization, including on-board chargers, DC-DC converters, and traction inverters.
- End-to-End Testing: Lead the testing and bring-up of power electronics components, seamlessly integrating them with powertrain components and the broader charging ecosystem.
- Advanced PCB Design: Oversee and execute the design of complex circuit boards (PCBs), optimizing for low-cost, high-reliability, and high-performance based on IPC standards.
- Reliability & Analysis: Lead DFMEA, worst-case circuit analysis (WCCA), thermal analysis, and other critical system-level evaluations.
- Validation Leadership: Direct testing and validation efforts on high voltage components and systems, setting the standard for test protocols within the team.
- Hands-on Bring-Up: Architect test bench setups and provide hands-on support for board-level, component-level, and vehicle-level bring-up at in-house facilities and external test sites.
- Cross-Functional Troubleshooting: Collaborate with and mentor cross-functional teams to troubleshoot, diagnose, and resolve complex electrical and EMI issues as they arise.
- Strategic Sourcing: Engage strategically with suppliers and the sourcing team to identify, evaluate, and procure cutting-edge components. Support design releases and modifications based on vendor capabilities.
- Technical Communication: Generate comprehensive technical reports and present critical design reviews to executive leadership and key stakeholders.
Who You Are:
- High-Power Experience: You have a proven track record of designing, building, and testing high-power electronics projects. Experience in the 100s of kW range is required, with Megawatt (MW) scale experience being highly desirable.
- Industry Flexible: You have 10+ years of hands-on electrical engineering experience. We are open to backgrounds in automotive, robotics, aerospace, grid-scale energy storage, marine, rail, or renewables—as long as you have worked at these demanding power levels (100kW+).
- Deep Technical Expertise: Strong, authoritative background in analog/digital electronics, power conversion, and energy storage technology (including power electronics, control theory, motor drives, and battery systems).
- Design & Test Master: You are equally comfortable at a CAD workstation as you are in the high-voltage lab. You possess strong hands-on capabilities for testing and troubleshooting complex electrical components and systems.
- Education: Strong academic background (BS/MS/PhD) in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or closely related fields with a focus on high voltage systems.
- Mixed Signal & Tools: Extensive experience with the electrical design of mixed-signal PCBs for traction inverters or on-board chargers. Highly proficient with Altium Designer (or similar schematic/layout tools) and circuit simulation software like LTspice.
- EMI/EMC Expert: Proven experience troubleshooting and resolving complex EMI/EMC related issues.
- System Integration: Familiarity with software, digital communication specifications, and embedded firmware development is a strong plus.
- Mechanical Familiarity: Experience with CATIA to support design releases is a strong plus.
- Leadership: Exceptional problem-solving skills with the ability to effectively communicate, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate dynamically within a fast-paced team environment.
Key Benefits & Perks:
- Comprehensive Health, Dental & Vision (HDV) – 100% employee covered
- Early-stage Stock Options
- Robust Retirement Savings (401k, HSA, FSA)
- Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) & Parental Leave
- Annual Vacation Bonus
- Wellness & Fertility Benefits
- Cell Phone Stipend
- Complimentary Meals & Stocked Kitchens
California Pay Range
$160,000—$220,000 USD
Equal Opportunity
Harbinger is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Harbinger is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at [email protected].
Candidate Data Privacy
Harbinger may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Harbinger may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
Harbinger may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our HR, legal, and finance teams, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Harbinger affiliates; and (iii) Harbinger’s service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.
Harbinger may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.
Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services. Any unsolicited resumes or candidate profiles submitted in response to our job posting shall be considered the property of Harbinger and are not subject to payment of referral or placement fees if any such candidate is later hired by Harbinger unless you have a signed written agreement in place with us which covers the applicable job posting.
Harbinger Garden Grove, California, USA Office
12821 Knott St, Garden Grove, CA, United States, 92841
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