AeroPerch is building the ground infrastructure that autonomous drone fleets need to operate at scale. Today most drones fly short missions and return to where they started, because there is nowhere along the way to recharge or offload data. Our field-deployed nodes give drones a place to land, charge wirelessly, exchange data and keep flying, turning one-off flights into continuous operations. Our first customers are in energy and critical infrastructure, with agriculture, public safety and defense to follow.
About the team
We are a small, early team with backgrounds in defense, aerospace and technology. The hardware team owns the node end to end: the wireless charging system, power electronics, enclosure and field integration. We move quickly from simulation to bench to field, and every engineer works hands-on across disciplines.
About the job
We are looking for a Senior Electrical Engineer to lead design of our wireless charging system, from the power stage through the receiver on the drone. You will be one of the first engineers on the team and will set the technical direction for how our nodes deliver power.
What you'll do
- Design, build and test high-efficiency power conversion for wireless charging, including inverters, rectifiers and DC-DC stages
- Develop transmitter and receiver hardware, including coils, magnetics and compensation networks, with a focus on a small, lightweight receiver that fits a range of drones
- Architect node power: battery-first operation, grid and off-grid sources, and the switching between them
- Work with research partners on simulation, prototyping and testing, and decide what gets built in-house
- Bring up boards, write test plans, run bench and environmental testing, and own the results
- Work closely with mechanical, firmware, software and test engineers to integrate charging into a sealed outdoor system
- Support safety, EMC and regulatory testing and documentation
- Help hire and grow the hardware engineering team
Required qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field
- 8+ years of power electronics design experience, or 5+ years with an M.S. or Ph.D.
- Demonstrated experience designing switched-mode power converters from schematic through validated hardware
- Experience with battery charging systems (EV, energy storage, consumer or industrial)
- Working knowledge of magnetics and resonant converter design
- Lab-based prototyping experience with oscilloscopes, power analyzers, electronic loads and thermal testing
- Proficient with circuit simulation (SPICE, PLECS or equivalent) and PCB design review
- Able to work across disciplines and own outcomes on a small team
- U.S. Person status is required, as this position requires access to export-controlled information
Preferred qualifications
- Inductive or resonant wireless power transfer experience, at any power level
- Wide-bandgap devices (SiC, GaN) and high-frequency converter design
- Off-grid power systems (solar, battery storage, generators and transfer switching)
- Electromagnetic field simulation (Ansys Maxwell, COMSOL or equivalent)
- EMC, FCC or UL testing and certification
- Drones, robotics or other battery-powered autonomous systems
- Taking hardware from prototype to production, including work with contract manufacturers
AeroPerch is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other protected status.