Lead Dielectric Materials Engineer

TL;DR

Lead Dielectric Materials Engineer: Develop and qualify insulation systems for high-power-density, medium-voltage power electronics with an accent on dielectric strength, thermal performance, and long-term reliability. Focus on characterizing materials, leading failure investigations, and driving design decisions across materials, processes, and manufacturing for scalable grid hardware.

Location: Scotts Valley, full-time onsite

Salary: $130,000–$189,000 per year

Company

Startup building cutting-edge power electronics for the 21st-century grid to accelerate electrification of renewables, storage, and loads.

What you will do

• Develop and qualify insulation systems for medium-voltage power converters intended for scale production
• Define material selection, screening, and qualification plans for dielectrics, interfaces, and assemblies
• Characterize dielectric strength, partial discharge, loss, thermal performance, adhesion, and aging behavior
• Lead investigations into failure modes like breakdown, delamination, voiding, treeing, and degradation
• Drive decisions on materials, creepage/clearance, field management, and processes for reliability and manufacturability
• Develop potting, molding, encapsulation, and assembly processes with cross-functional teams

Requirements

• 5+ years experience designing, selecting, or qualifying solid dielectric materials or insulation systems for medium/high-voltage products (transformers, bushings, capacitors, cables, etc.)
• Strong understanding of polymer dielectrics and interfaces with metals, ceramics, semiconductors
• Deep knowledge of high-voltage fundamentals: electric field stress, partial discharge, breakdown, degradation
• Hands-on experience with potting, casting, molding, coating, encapsulation, or insulation assembly for MV/HV hardware
• Experience with failure analysis for insulation issues in prototypes or fielded hardware
• Translating material behavior into design rules, qualification plans, and process controls
• Cross-functional collaboration across design, manufacturing, reliability, supply chain
• Bachelor’s in Materials Science, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent

Nice to have

• Developing novel dielectric systems for improved strength, conductivity, adhesion, or processability
• Partial discharge measurement, HV test fixtures, insulation life testing
• Reliability methods: Weibull, derating, HALT/ALT, physics-of-failure
• Thermomechanical analysis/modeling under thermal cycling
• Shipping MV products with field reliability
• Advanced degree in relevant field

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative environment with first-principles engineering, hands-on execution, and learning by doing
• Dynamic startup driven by solving difficult problems for personal, technical, and career growth
• Competitive compensation including salary and equity, plus benefits