Power Electronics Engineer in Harwell

Location: Harwell, Oxfordshire (hybrid, minimum 2 days per week in office)

Right to work: Applicants must have the right to work in the UK without visa sponsorship. We are unable to consider candidates who require sponsorship now or in the future.

Role Value and Responsibility

As a Power Electronics Engineer at Space Solar, you are a hands‑on builder at the heart of our technology development. We are looking for awesome technical people who are inquisitive doers: individuals who can take a complex engineering challenge and turn it into working, tested hardware. This is a broad role by design; you are the vital connective tissue across our hardware projects, equally comfortable with PCB design, power conversion, embedded systems, and lab bench work. You will apply that foundation wherever the programme needs it, whether that means designing a control board for a robotics test rig, characterising a new energy harvesting circuit, or developing the power management architecture for an in‑space demonstration flying in two years’ time. One near‑term area of focus is developing a wireless power transmission (WPT) system that beams RF energy to a high‑altitude platform. You will own the DC power management chain for that system: aggregating distributed rectifier outputs, implementing maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to maximise efficiency across a non‑uniform beam profile, and converting it into a regulated bus supply. This is novel, first‑of‑a‑kind work with no off‑the‑shelf solution, and it sits alongside broader electronics and power work across our Space‑Based Solar Power (SBSP) programme. We value rigour at the right time: keeping things 'quick and dirty' during early prototyping to maximise iteration speed, while building towards the precision required for space flight and scalable production.

What You Will Be Doing

• DC Power Management and Energy Harvesting: Designing and building DC‑DC converter chains (buck, boost, buck‑boost) to aggregate distributed rectifier elements into a regulated power bus.
• MPPT Integration: Implementing maximum power point tracking algorithms in firmware to hold rectifier groups near optimum operating points regardless of incident power density.
• Source Characterisation: Characterising nonlinear power sources by measuring I‑V curves and load‑pull data, translating results into converter input impedance requirements.
• General Electronics and PCB Design: Designing and laying out PCBs across analogue, digital, mixed‑signal, and power domains, from initial schematic through to manufactured and tested boards.
• Embedded and Control Systems: Developing microcontrollers and FPGAs for control, data acquisition, instrumentation, and test automation across our terrestrial test rigs and facilities.
• Bench Work and Test: Building, commissioning, and operating bench test setups to characterise power conversion chains end‑to‑end, measuring efficiency, thermal performance, and stability using oscilloscopes and power analysers.
• Cross‑Disciplinary Collaboration: Working closely with RF, mechanical, systems, and robotics engineers to ensure electronics and power systems are seamlessly integrated into the wider programme.
• In‑Silica Integration: Collaborating with the Digital Twin team to ensure hardware data is captured and integrated into our simulation environments.

What You Will Bring to the Team

• The Space Solar Mindset: We are looking for leaders who are inquisitive doers. Whether you are a specialist in power electronics, a strong PCB and embedded systems engineer, or a generalist who has built complex electronics from scratch, you belong here. We value talent, flexibility, and a 'can‑do' attitude over a perfect checklist.
• Electronics Foundation: A strong background in electronics design, with hands‑on experience taking circuits from concept through to tested hardware. PCB design proficiency is core.
• Power Conversion and MPPT Knowledge: A solid understanding of switch‑mode DC‑DC converter design alongside familiarity with MPPT algorithms (perturb‑and‑observe) and COTS controller ICs.
• The Do‑er Spirit: A proactive attitude and a desire to get stuck into everything: from initial circuit simulation to hands‑on debugging and troubleshooting in the lab.
• Adaptive Management Style: The ability to match the fast‑paced, iterative needs of early R&D while knowing exactly when to turn on the rigour as we approach flight‑readiness.
• Embedded Firmware Awareness (Desirable): Ability to write or modify embedded C firmware for microcontroller‑based control loops, ADC‑based feedback, and PWM output.
• Energy Harvesting or RF Awareness (Desirable): Experience with low‑power energy harvesting systems or a basic understanding of how a rectifier element converts RF to DC.
• Educational Foundation: A degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, or a related field, or equivalent experience through routes such as an apprenticeship or a professional career building complex electronic systems.

Success Factors

• You know you have been successful when you deliver a working DC power management prototype for the programme that demonstrates efficient power aggregation and MPPT.
• You have designed and delivered PCBs across more than one area of the programme, and engineers across the team come to you when they need something built properly.
• Your bench measurement work has generated clean, well‑documented data that directly informs design decisions and feeds into the digital twin environment.
• You have built strong working relationships across the RF, mechanical, systems, and robotics teams, and your electronics work is integrated into the wider programme rather than sitting in isolation.