Lead Power Systems Engineer

Position Title: Lead Power Systems Engineer
Requisition ID: 1803
Position Location: Sterling, VA
Position Reports To: Director, Electrical Engineering
Supervises Others: No

At Trident Systems, we believe that strong engineering principles are fundamental to driving innovation and solving complex problems. We promote a culture characterized by rigorous engineering practices and a commitment to continuous improvement. This is achieved by leveraging our organization's collective expertise through collaborative development processes, which include thorough design and peer reviews. We can deliver innovative, high-performance solutions that meet our customers' evolving requirements by integrating our specialized knowledge in aerospace electronic systems with appropriately scaled development methodologies.

We are a mission partner supporting DoD, Intelligence Community, and Civil space customers. We develop complex, radiation-effects-mitigated, designs that balance competing requirements in modern space programs, delivering cutting-edge solutions that enable our customers to achieve more in space.

Position Summary

The Lead Power Systems Engineer will be the technical leader and decision-maker for a multidisciplinary team of electrical, power, and hardware engineers that design and produce high-performance power systems for satellites. This role requires an experienced spacecraft development engineer who can guide architecture, communicate with customers, and manage top-level requirements and verification. The Lead Power Systems Engineer should have proven skills in designing, debugging, and optimizing DC-DC converters, and should have practical experience with GaN technologies and radiation effects on electronics.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as technical lead and primary decision-maker for power systems design across government, civil, and commercial space programs.
• Define and own power system architectures from concept through CDR, including bus regulation, power distribution, battery charging, and protection topologies.
• Lead a team of electrical and power hardware engineers through all phases of the development lifecycle – requirements capture, design, analysis, fabrication, integration, and test.
• Establish and maintain top-level electrical requirements and drive verification and validation activities including qualification and acceptance testing.
• Serve as primary technical interface to customers, program managers, and external stakeholders; present design status, trade studies, and technical risks at formal reviews.
• Guide circuit design and layout reviews for high-reliability and GaN-based DC-DC converters, EMI filters, power distribution networks, solar array interfaces, and battery management systems.
• Apply radiation hardness assurance (RHA) disciplines including part derating, total ionizing dose (TID) analysis, single event effects (SEE) screening, and lot testing coordination.
• Identify and resolve technical risk early through analysis, simulation (SPICE/LTSpice), worst-case analysis (WCA), and hardware bring-up.
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers; define best practices and contribute to internal technical standards and IP development.
• Support proposal efforts including technical volume authorship, BOE development, and design-to-cost trades.
• Perform other duties as assigned. 

Required Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering or a closely related field.
• 9+ years of experience in power electronics design, with at least 3 years in a technical lead or principal engineer role.
• Demonstrated expertise in DC-DC converter design across common topologies (buck, boost, flyback, forward, full-bridge) for spaceflight or other high-reliability applications.
• Hands-on experience with GaN FET characterization, gate driver design, and transition to flight application.
• Working knowledge of radiation effects in electronics and RHA methodologies applicable to LEO, MEO, GEO, or deep space environments.
• Experience owning requirements and verification artifacts in a formal systems engineering process (ICD, ICDs, V&V matrices, SRS).
• Proficiency with circuit simulation tools (LTSpice, SIMPLIS, or equivalent).
• Experience with formal design reviews (PDR, CDR, TRR) and direct customer interaction.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-1553, ECSS, or NASA GEVS standards
• Familiarity with space-qualified magnetic component design (custom inductors and transformers)
• Experience with battery management and charge control for Li-ion cells in space applications
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